Press. voanews.com
Some
international Fulbright fellows in the U.S. say they are worried about their
ability to return to their studies if they travel home during a temporary
travel ban the U.S. has issued.
“The only thing
that helped me persevere through the notoriously harsh winter in Syracuse was
the thought that I will be back home in February to see my family,” said Ayman
Idris, a Fulbright scholar at Syracuse University in New York who is from
Sudan. Idris said he had hoped to attend his younger brother’s graduation from
medical school in Sudan on February 10.
But he canceled
his trip after the Trump administration on January 27 issued a temporary ban on
travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. Immigrants from Iran, Iraq,
Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen as well as all refugees were temporarily
barred by the order from entering the United States. American courts are now
reviewing the action the Trump administration says is important for U.S.
security in order to determine whether it is legal. It is unclear when courts
will render a final verdict.
Academic and
study visas
The order also
affects students who are in the U.S. on temporary academic and study visas.
They normally would be allowed to travel to their home country and re-enter the
United States without restriction.
Idris, who
studies technology policy and management at Syracuse, said he had planned to
join his family and watch “my kid brother accomplish his lifelong dream of
becoming a doctor. ... Now, thanks to President Trump, I only get to live that
moment vicariously through the pictures taken by a shaky cellphone camera.”
The Fulbright
program awards fellowships to nearly 4,000 international students each year.
More than 370,000 “Fulbrighters” from more than 160 countries have participated
since 1946 in the program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Samaneh
Seifollahi, a Fulbright fellow from Iran who studies at the University of
California-Davis, said the temporary ban has disrupted her Fulbright program.
She said she was making contacts in her field of study — natural resources,
environmental policy and climate change -- and hoped to be granted a
postdoctoral position at the University of California-Irvine “with the best
researchers in my major.”
Seifollahi said
other students at University of California-Davis, where there are more than 35
Iranians, fear that new immigration policy might interrupt their studies and
research in the U.S.
Families of
Fulbrights also have been affected. Some who planned to visit the U.S. have
canceled their trips because they, too, say they are fearful of their ability
to travel.
Anxiety beyond
the 7 countries
And some
Fulbright scholars from countries not included in the temporary travel ban have
also expressed anxiety. “Although Pakistan is not among the countries currently
facing the immigration curbs, the recent statement by a White House official
about possible inclusion of other countries has raised concerns among
Pakistanis students, some of whom have to go back between the semesters to meet
their families,” said Waseem Abbasi, a Fulbright fellow at the University of
Maryland.
Abbasi referred
to a statement by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who said in a
television interview, “You can point to other countries that have similar
problems like Pakistan and others, perhaps we need to take it further.”
International
students from India also say they are concerned. A law firm specializing in
immigration from India — Madan and Saigal, a New York-based law firm — has
distributed a notice advising immigrants and students not to leave the United
States to avoid being denied re-entry.
Their advice
applies “to everyone,” the statement said, not just to people from the seven
countries on the list, their statement said.
Community
doctors at risk
Simultaneously,
the American Medical Association (AMA) wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security
John Kelly to discuss its concerns about the temporary ban affecting
international medical graduates (IMGs). IMGs are physicians who received their
medical school education outside of the U.S. Many are foreigners who have been
granted visas to train, practice or attend medical conferences in the U.S.
The
association’s CEO, Dr. James Madara, wrote that 1-in-4 physicians in the United
States are IMGs. “Many communities, including rural and low-income areas, often
have problems attracting physicians to meet their health care needs. To address
these gaps in care, IMGs often fill these openings,” Madara said. “These
physicians are licensed by the same stringent requirements applied to U.S.
medical school graduates.
“There are
reports indicating that this executive order is affecting both current and
future physicians as well as medical students and residents who are providing
much needed care to some of our most vulnerable patients,” he added.
The AMA has
asked the Trump administration for guidance on the future of the visa program. Hitender
Rao is a journalist with Hindustan Times who is currently studying in the
United States as a Fulbright Fellow.
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