[ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students

Wed Jul 8 20:49:36 UTC 2020

Outside of programs such as the Fulbright and such, it is my understanding that many students who come stateside for education do so on their initiative.

The standard operating procedure is to take exams such as the SAT, GRE, GMAT, and TOEFl. One needs some material means to jump through these procedures and I doubt if one could do that living in a cardboard box in Bombay.

As to whether all international students have health coverage, I do not know. May be the big land grant universities may give grad students full coverage as part of the package. As to what happens for undergrads, those in community colleges, English Language Institutes, and those at various private schools, I am not sure.

During these times as health systems are greatly stressed, if one does not have health coverage, one is looking at a minimum of $1500 for just the bed for a night. If the student is not insured that money needs to come from somewhere. Local and state gov?

The attitude among some countries right now appears to be to take care of their own - citizens first. For instance, India has been running repatriation flights from the United States. I am guessing Department of State as well may have been organizing that for Americans overseas.

Programs such as the Fulbright probably have health insurance for their students.

It is possible that the administration may have thought that if one can do distance education stateside, one can do the same as well from back home.

Joseph
     On Wednesday, July 8, 2020, 02:12:06 PM EDT, Kain, Donna <kaind at ecu.edu> wrote:  

 #yiv8130945257 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}Those are possible explanations. However, as long as we invite students to this country to study, we have a responsibility for their overall welfare and educational outcomes. 

Donna Kain, Ph.D. Associate ProfessorDirector of Undergraduate StudiesDepartment of English, East Carolina University252-737-2705 
2202 Bate Building
Mail Stop 555kaind at ecu.eduGo English!
From: ATTW-L <attw-l-bounces at attw.org> on behalf of Joseph Jeyaraj <jeyarajjoseph at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 11:30 AM
To: attw-l at attw.org <attw-l at attw.org>; Dragga, Sam <sam.dragga at ttu.edu>
Subject: Re: [ATTW-L] the ICE memo on international students 
| This email originated from outside ECU. |

The ICE memo likely is in keeping with the administration's policy of protecting American jobs.

The top two contributing countries for international students are India (from India the number currently, if I am right, may be close to 200,000) and China (possibly higher than India's) and it is the understanding that many of them post graduation move on to OPT and then H-1B. 

The H-1 B is meant to bring in overseas workers for filling in jobs that cannot be filled by US nationals, but American workers have argued that that is not the case. 

In addition, the Obama administration also allowed the H-4 (spousal visa) to be used as a work visa (possibly in 2015) and currently there may be around 127,000 or so who have entered the US job market as a result.

The above is in addition to jobs outsourced. (If I am right, a few years ago IBM's biggest workforce of possibly 120,000 or so may have been India.)

Because of Covid-19 and high unemployment levels, I think, the administration has put a stop on processing all work visas (H-1B and and other types as well I think, including the H-4).

Joseph On Tuesday, July 7, 2020, 02:54:08 PM EDT, Dragga, Sam <sam.dragga at ttu.edu> wrote:

If you are looking for a striking example of technical writing with a direct impact on your classrooms, consider the memo released yesterday by the US Department of Homeland Security (https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm2007-01.pdf).

The memo explains to college administrators that their international (nonimmigrant) students musttake either onsite courses or a mix of onsite and online courses in the Fall 2020 semester to remain in the United States.

In addition to raising awareness of the extraordinary conditions for international students, the memo offers the opportunity to discuss clarity in writing (e.g., note the 33-word opening sentence in the 116-word opening paragraph but also the headings and numbered or bulleted lists).  

And given the experience of the Spring 2020 semester and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the memo raises ethical questions about putting the following key piece of information in a 63-word sentence in the middle of a 151-word paragraph on page 2 of a 3-page memo [italics mine]:  

If a school changes its operational stance mid-semester, and as a result a nonimmigrant student switches to only online classes, or a nonimmigrant student changes their course selections, and as a result, ends up taking an entirely online course load, schools are reminded that nonimmigrant students within the United States are not permitted to take a full course of study through online classes.

Sam

Sam Dragga

Professor Emeritus, Texas Tech University

Editor,Technical Communication

sam.dragga at ttu.edu

1-806-543-6099

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