Government Deceit, Risk & The Price of Foreign Students
The U.S. government issues visas to foreign students and their dependents to enrich “academic” institutions under the pretense that these students, including those from countries openly hostile to the U.S. will make contributions to the economy while pursuing scientific and technological breakthroughs in bleeding edge areas such as fashion design, ballet and cosmetology.
In the interest of enhancing the economic competitiveness of the United States, the U.S. Government sponsors a series of initiatives to attract foreign students and entrepreneurial talent to create jobs, form startup companies, and invest capital in areas of high unemployment.
One such initiative, “Study in the States,” encourages the best and brightest international students from around the world to study in the United States by streamlining the international student visa process to further enhance our nation’s economic, scientific, and technological competitiveness. As part of the initiative, “Study in the States” provides information to prospective and current international students, exchange visitors, and their dependents about opportunities to study in the United States and learn about expanded post-graduate opportunities. Schools are carefully vetted and certified by a cabinet level department of the U.S. Government, the Education Department as U.S. Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified schools.
The official list of certified institutions hints at the diverse course of study available to international students from farrier school to cosmetology and preaching. Perhaps a for-profit, non-sectarian, art institute is more your style. Then the Academy of Couture Art on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, CA might be the perfect place for you.
Looking for a faster pace career, then perhaps one of the 519 certified flight schools is more your speed.
The schools range from elementary through higher education to vocational schools. One can visit the Department of State EducationUSA website to learn about educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate study, opportunities for scholars, admissions, and more. You can also visit the DHS “Study in the States” school search page to search for SEVP-certified schools. Applicants must apply to and be accepted by a SEVP approved school before they can file an application at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate for a student visa.
Once their application is accepted, citizens of a foreign country aspiring to enter the United States as a student must obtain a visa, either a non-immigrant visa for temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. The course of study and the type of school attended determine whether you need an F-1 (student) visa or an M-1 (vocational) visa.
In support of this program and others, DHS has increased the efficiency and effectiveness of its efforts to screen visa applications by leveraging capabilities across the Department. DHS also continues efforts to review and monitor the 1.6 million students in the U.S. who have overstayed their student visas. Furthermore, DHS continues to refer leads based on national security and public safety priorities to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for further investigation based on their findings.
The DHS Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) program database is used to monitor active visa records for 1.3 million foreign students in the U.S. Did you know that the DHS program attracts an average of over 125,000 students from Muslim-majority countries each year? This population included Mohamad Abdulazeez who recently went on a shooting spree in Chattanooga, TN. He came to the U.S. under a student visa to attend high school only to murder four American Marines and one Navy sailor. Abdulazeez attended UT-Chattanooga and graduated in 2012 with a degree in engineering. Therefore, his student visa expired in 2012. In 2015, he was arrested and charged with drunk driving but did not come to the attention of DHS authorities.
The same DHS who has lost track of the 1.6M holders of lapsed visas also approved visas and welcomed thousands of new “students” to the U.S. from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia Syria, Iraq and even Iran with an approval rate in excess of 25[1] visas per day. I wonder how our embassy in Iran could even handle such a volume of applications. Oh wait. The U.S. does not have established diplomatic relations with Iran. So that would mean no embassy eager to receive applications from Iran’s best and brightest prospects. I am certain that the quality of the candidates and local vetting is superior in more stable neighboring countries like Syria and Iraq. Speaking of stability, there are only three countries determined by the U.S. Secretary of State to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. These countries are Syria (1979), Iran (1984) and Sudan (1993). Each of these countries citizens currently has citizens who have submitted student visa applications that have been favorably adjudicated and the “students” approved for residency along with their dependents in the United States.
So, in the interest of enhancing the economic competitiveness of the United States, we accept the risk that these students might embrace the western way of life and go on to be productive residents. It appears that recently we face an ever increasing threat from lone wolf terrorists. These individuals were disillusioned with western culture and excess and sought refuge in Islam. We have seen students in the U.S. and abroad who were radicalized via social media and the Internet to lash out against western decadence.
Turning back to economics, since 2006, the total number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities has increased dramatically by roughly 200,000 to more than 764,000, according to the Department of State. At an average cost of tuition and fees, alone, of $31,231 that means an infusion of $24B. When Americans tour colleges, they are told of the value that student body diversity brings to a well-rounded student. Parents are shown tables listing the multitude of countries represented on campus. Meanwhile, potential students from other countries are sold on the amenities available to international students. Even state schools have constructed separate international student dorms and student unions to attract the foreign money. So, I ask you. Is the $3.3 billion investment in education from Muslim-majority countries worth the risk?
In conclusion, the law enforcement community lacks sufficient resources to identify, much less monitor all potential lone-wolf terrorists, much less to take effective measures to intercept them prior to them committing acts of violence. As we have seen in Chattanooga, TN, Charleston, SC and Garland, TX all it takes is the will, opportunity and basic capability to commit acts of terror. It is time to rescind the invitation to the world’s best and brightest seeking an American education in economics from Clemson or seeking to learn ballet, martial or culinary arts and stop pretending it has something to do with “economic competitiveness, scientific and technological advancements” - or that it doesn’t present an unnecessary element of risk to the homeland.
This message brought to you by the homeland security professionals of Homeland inSecurity.
“Got fear?”
To read more from Homeland inSecurity:
[1] DHS 2013 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics
