RE: "Feds should track international students more closely, Schumer says." Oct. 18
Dear Editor:
Your coverage of Senator Schumer’s remarks Thursday on the U.S. student visa and monitoring system misses a key distinction. In the wake of the attempt to blow up the N.Y. Federal Reserve building, it would be wrong to suggest that our student monitoring system needs to be more restrictive.
The system has been appropriately strengthened since 9/11. There is no such thing as perfect security, and we would give the system an impossible task if we demand that. Worse, we risk actually damaging the nation’s security, and our future.
According to what we know now, the visa was granted because the applicant was eligible under the rules and no disqualifying information about him existed in U.S. intelligence files. In that case, the proper decision is to grant the visa. The alternative is to exclude everyone because of something we might not know, which would cause many talented people who want to come to the U.S. to go elsewhere.
The monitoring system is designed to ensure that foreign students are enrolled in school in accordance with the terms of their visas and of their admission to the United States. In this case, the system appears to have done exactly what it is supposed to do, tracking this student every step of the way.
The monitoring system is not, cannot be, and was never intended to be an enforcement system. It will not uncover illegal activity outside the classroom. We have another line of defense for that; it is called law enforcement and it worked perfectly in this case. The authorities were onto this person early, able to access information from the system and the public was never in danger.
The system worked. To be sure, it will be scrubbed to determine if improvements are needed. But above all, as your story unfortunately suggests, we should not make it more difficult for talented people to come here. Down that road lies the decline of America.
Signed,
Vic Johnson
Senior Adviser, Public Policy
NAFSA: Association of International Educators Washington, D.C.