President Donald Trump’s most recent executive order temporarily banning immigration from six Muslim-majority countries and halting the issuance of student visas prompted an ASU official to notify faculty about how to proceed with potentially affected students.
ASU’s Executive Vice President Mark Searle sent an email to ASU faculty last week about addressing the new ban with students and their families.
The March 6 order calls for a temporary suspension of entry into the United States for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, who do not currently hold a U.S. visa. The order also halts new student visas from being issued, which will take effect March 16, according to Searle’s email.
“Naturally, this development is likely to cause questions and concern among our current and prospective students from these countries,” Searle said in the email. “We contacted these students and their parents by email ... I want to update you on the revised order and ask for your assistance when interacting with these students.”
Searle said the University is working to ensure students have resources if they face troubles renewing or getting visas in order to attend or continuing attending ASU.
Holly Singh, senior director of the International Students and Scholars Center, said his top focus is serving ASU’s international community to make sure they have the resources they need to succeed.
“We are monitoring the orders and helping our international students understand their possible impacts,” Singh said in an emailed statement. “As the orders are temporary, it is too soon to say what impacts they will have on our students.”
Singh said it’s essential that students and their families who have questions have a way to get answers from the University.
“What is most important is that we answer our students questions, direct them to all available resources and support them emotionally in what can be a confusing time,” Singh said. “On multiple occasions we have reached out to students to lend our support and have hosted forums to answer questions that they have about the executive orders.”
Shay Khatiri, political science and U.S. history junior and president of ASU’s Alexander Hamilton Society, said ASU has been helpful and supportive.
“The new ban doesn't affect current visa holders, which means students are technically not affected,” Khatiri said. ”Our parents could also receive waivers to visit us. It is really not a big deal ... However, I just don't understand the necessity of such an order, given we haven't had any issues since post-9/11 reforms.”
Khatiri said the new executive order is much better than its previous version.
“They have made it a little toothless, not affecting current visa and green card holders,” Khatiri said. “Now, it doesn't mean that the new order is good. It still is unnecessary, and it sends the wrong signals. It sends the signal that America is the enemy of Muslims, and it facilitates recruitment for terrorists.”
Richard Thompson, an education junior, said the executive order will inconvenience some who don’t deserve it, but that’s unavoidable.
“ASU can issue any proclamation they want, and assist these students as long as it doesn't interfere with the law,” Thompson said. “The faculty can (virtually) signal as much as they want, but at the end of the day their priority should be maintaining resources to the majority of students and U.S. citizens above all else.”
Editor's Note: Shay Khatiri has written opinion columns for The State Press in the past but is no longer employed by the publication.
Reach the editor at politics.statepress@gmail.com or follow @alliebice on Twitter.
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