Peter is a graduate student from the former Soviet Union. Hestudies, makes good grades, is active in the community and is theholder of an expired student visa.
Since Sept. 11, increased regulation on student visas has causedsome foreign students who entered the country legally and fear thattheir visas will not be renewed to choose to remain hereillegally.
“In many cases, the students themselves are not a nationalthreat, and the United States would welcome them to renew theirvisas,” said a Dedman college professor who wished to remainanonymous. “There is one fly in the ointment. Their owncountry is refusing to extend the visas and demanding that thestudents return to their homelands.”
The professor has joined the ranks of educators, ministers, andcommunity members hiding SMU students with expired visas.
“I would never think of re-applying for my visa,”Peter said. “My country would deny it. I would be forced toreturn home to my war-torn country, serve as a soldier or in thegovernment and would not be allowed to finish my education, and Iam so close.”
Of the students interviewed who had expired visas, all weremaster’s graduate students. Students at lower levels ofeducation are usually less noteworthy of their government’sinterest and easily have their visas renewed.
Lyn is an Asian graduate student studying science who has chosento take her chances on remaining in the country with an expiredvisa.
“We have many bad things that my country endorses such ashuman rights violations,” Lyn said. “We do not have thefreedom to stand up and say that this is wrong. If we do, we areimprisoned or shot or our families are made to pay for ourdisobedience. I would not trade the freedoms that I have here atany price,” she said.
Since Sept. 11, law enforcement officials from the Bureau ofCitizen Immigration Service (formerly theImmigration-Naturalization Service) have subpoenaed records fromseveral U.S. universities in an attempt to address one of thecountry’s perceived security weaknesses — its open doorpolicy toward foreign students.
Of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on thePentagon and the World Trade Center, 10 had gained entrance to thecountry on visas, which had expired at the time of the attacks. Onehad a student visa but failed to report to school.
“I hate to see what is happening to this country in thename of homeland security,” said Ali, another studentstudying law with an expired visa.
Since Aug. 1, all U.S. universities have been required toregister the names of international students with the Department ofHomeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor InformationSystem.
The system was enacted to ensure all students here on visas wereattending school.
But the SMU professors working to hide them emphasize that thesestudents aren’t terrorists.
“When [World War II] was declared, Albert Einstein, EnricoFermi and others chose to stay here against their countries wisheswith expired visas,” the anonymous professor said.”Their efforts were welcomed in building the country to standagainst its enemies. Today the enemy is a concept and not a personor country. Students are being viewed differently.”
Despite their unusual legal status, these students live theirlives like most others. They live in small apartments off-campussponsored by the local churches. They do small jobs that pay”under the table” or without a paper record of the cashpayment changing hands. They pay their bills and attendclasses.
“Many of the foreign students who attend our school leavehere to become heads of state, people of high political influence,great scientists, and they remember fondly their time here,”said another graduate professor involved in hiding foreignstudents.
“Deporting them could have disastrous effects for thefuture of foreign relations,” he said.