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Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ Category

Why Don’t More Americans Study in Europe?

Posted in Advocacy, Study Abroad, tagged , on March 18, 2013 | 4 Comments »

At a meeting in Germany recently, Secretary of State John Kerry was asked by a former exchange program participant to comment on why fewer Americans seek an exchange experience in Europe than Europeans do in America. Secretary Kerry said, “That’s a really good question…. I need to find out.” He referred to the importance that the Administration attaches to scholarships for study abroad, and he said more scholarships are needed.

Watch the video of the event or read the transcript here.

Secretary Kerry is a strong supporter of international education. In 2001, then-Senator Kerry sponsored Senate Concurrent Resolution 7, calling for the establishment of an international education policy for the United States which would, among other things, strive to “significantly increase participation in study abroad and internships abroad,” and “promote greater diversity of locations, languages, and subjects” involved in study abroad. This resolution passed the Senate unanimously. It was the right policy then, and it’s the right policy now. Regrettably, the United States still has not articulated such a policy. So it’s important that Secretary Kerry know the answer to this question:  Why has this objective of his resolution (not to mention the other objectives) not been accomplished—or even attempted?

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Finally, Something About the Sequester That Makes Sense: Release of Low-Risk Immigrant Detainees

Posted in Advocacy, Immigration Policy, tagged , , on March 4, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Not much about the self-imposed insanity of the sequester makes sense, so it’s good to see something that does. “ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officials have said they released a few hundred people in anticipation of the budget cuts set to hit on Friday,” CQ reported on Thursday. “The people released were low-priority detainees and are still being monitored by immigration authorities, they said.”

Of course, congressional Republicans opposed to immigration reform reacted with their usual hyperbole, charging that this release of “criminal aliens” was “putting the safety of the public at risk.” This is nonsense. If enforcement cuts are required under the sequester, as they are and should be, this is exactly the kind of saving that makes sense.

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The Immigration Debate: What Does a Functional Border Look Like?

Posted in Advocacy, Immigration Policy, tagged on February 25, 2013 | 1 Comment »

On Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security will hold a hearing entitled, “What Does a Secure Border Look Like?” If I were testifying at this hearing, I would respectfully submit to the members of the subcommittee that they’re asking the wrong question. This question has no answer, it’s a diversion from the essential task of creating an immigration system that works for America, and it misunderstands what the U.S.-Mexico border is.

As Ted Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations has pointed out, there are no agreed-upon metrics for assessing the state of border security. The Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Research Service, Congress’s two research arms (which will have witnesses at the hearing), have done useful work in this area. The Migration Policy Institute has published a voluminous and definitive report on immigration enforcement, including the status of the southwest border. All of these studies emphasize the enormous strides that have been made on that border, and the extent to which it looks fundamentally different today than it did 10 or 20 years ago. But none produces the definitive metrics that Mr. Alden argues are urgently needed.

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President Obama Makes the Case for Immigration Reform Now in State of the Union

Posted in Advocacy, Immigration Policy, tagged on February 13, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Presidential SealPresident Obama dedicated significant attention to immigration reform in his State of the Union address last night. To set the tone, he introduced the issue by tying it to the economy:

Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants. And right now, leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, and faith communities all agree that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Because border security and the “enforcement first” mentality has historically impeded us from moving the immigration debate forward, the president then made the case that the border is already secure. He pointed to his administration’s track record of “putting more boots on the southern border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.”

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For Immigration Reform to Work, We Need More Green Cards and Clear Path to Citizenship

Posted in Advocacy, Immigration Policy, tagged , on February 4, 2013 | 1 Comment »

President Obama and the Senate bipartisan “Gang of Eight” have laid down their markers for legislation to overhaul our nation’s immigration laws. The president’s plan is stronger because it provides a clear and unambiguous path to legal permanent residency and citizenship for undocumented immigrants who meet agreed eligibility criteria and because the president’s plan would make the additional green cards available that this commitment would require.

The bipartisan Senate framework, which NAFSA analyzed in a January 28 statement, provides fundamentally the same path, but would not permit undocumented immigrants to embark on the path until the border is in some vague and undefined sense “secure,” and not until “completion” of an entry-exit system—two conditions which are beyond immigrants’ control and might be impossible to meet. In addition, the framework is silent on the green card issue—a key omission because, without more green cards, the “line,” to which everyone agrees the undocumented immigrants must “go to the back,” would stretch into infinity.

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Obama’s “Liberal” Inaugural Speech Reasserts Core American Values

Posted in Advocacy, Immigration Policy, tagged , , on January 23, 2013 | 1 Comment »

Following President Barack Obama’s second Inaugural address, the tendency in press commentary has been to over-emphasize its “liberalism” and to underplay what is really its central theme:  a reassertion of values that go back to our country’s founding.

This is understandable: The press has to label things. And yes, many of the president’s proposals would be considered part of the liberal agenda by the standard of today’s politics, when any proposal that carries the connotation “government” or “regulation” is called liberal.

But it was not always so. It was not even recently so. In his superb book, Our Divided Political Heart, E.J. Dionne writes, “American history is defined by an irrepressible and ongoing tension between two core values: our love of individualism and our reverence for community.” This tension goes back to our founding and to the Federalist Papers. Virtually all of us hold both of these values, and much of our political history constitutes a debate over where the balance between them lies. But only rarely (as today) have we lost sight of the reality that there are two sides to America’s “political heart.”

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International Students Bring $21.8 Billion to U.S. Economy – and Much More to Communities

Posted in Advocacy, Foreign Students & Scholars, Guest Post, Int'l Education Week, tagged , , on November 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

International students and their families contributed more than $21.8 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2011–2012 academic year, according to a new NAFSA report released yesterday. California, New York, and Texas welcomed the largest numbers of international students, and those and other states across the country saw substantial benefits from spending by these students and their families on living expenses, tuition, and fees.

The compelling, real-life stories about the positive impact international students make on our campuses and communities often come from the experiences of international educators who work with them every day. Today we have a post about international students in Pennsylvania from Jennifer Figueroa, director of International Student Services for Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. If you would like to share your own story, visit the Share Your Story page on Connecting Our World.

Bicycling to Sustainability
By: Jennifer Figueroa

Somehow, I am lucky enough to have a really unique job. I work in higher education, specifically with students that come to study in the United States from all over the world. I travel vicariously through them, and occasionally travel for real when the opportunity presents itself. I’ve mentored, supported, and advised students from far-flung places, nations, and cultures including the Ukraine, Brazil, Rwanda, Honduras, China, Nepal, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Macedonia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, The Netherlands, Madagascar, Yemen, and Tibet. What is the best part of it all? Getting to know them as individuals and seeing the influence they bring to our campus. Each student brings a vibrant and unique perspective to campus, lending new ideas and concepts to classroom discussions and enriching campus programs through cultural experiences.

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Prospects Improve for Comprehensive Immigration Reform after the Election

Posted in Advocacy, Immigration Policy, tagged , , on November 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

The election of 2012 is, thankfully, over. The outcome gives great hope to those of us who spend our time working for comprehensive immigration reform. President Barack Obama expressed a clear and consistent commitment to immigration reform and won. The Maryland DREAM Act passed handily, which bodes well for immigration reform nationwide.

Hispanics turned out in record numbers. This did not happen by accident. It is the result of months and years of work by colleagues—ethnic groups and immigration activists—to register Hispanics and get out the Hispanic vote. Many worked hard for these outcomes—including members, leaders, and staff of this association. Like Obama, they too had a good ground game. I salute them; they give us all much to be proud of and thankful for.

Now, the real work begins. The fact the President got 71 percent of the Hispanic vote creates both the opportunity and the obligation to address comprehensive immigration reform as a first order of business in the new Congress. But it does not guarantee the outcome. Only we can do that.

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