It can be said with confidence that immigration is a political topic that is of great interest to those living in the United States, legally or illegally. Today, roughly about 11 million people or approximately 3 percent of the U.S. population are undocumented immigrants. The fact is, many immigrants are having trouble keeping their legal statuses in the U.S., thus making them undocumented immigrants. With recent government efforts enforcing immigration law, I further explored to see how it may affect the immigrants, more specifically, the international students.
On February 3rd of 2019, ‘21 Savage’ made multiple headlines by being detained by ICE due to his legal status. A United Kingdom native rapper, Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (a.k.a 21 Savage), is said to have run into legal issues with the ICE due to overstaying after his visa expired. According to Levenson and Valencia, the rapper entered the U.S. legally in July 2005 but failed to depart under the terms of his nonimmigrant visa. The cause of the rapper taking such uncalculated risk is questionable given his network as well as his net worth. Perhaps when looking from a relatable standpoint, this particular incident may not be applicable. However, the fact is, he overstayed which indicates that it could happen to anyone.
One example is about a student named Huang Yimeng, a University of Virginia graduate who is facing challenges of getting back to the United States due to her U.S. visa being denied. According to Jingnan, “When international students like Huang graduate from U.S. colleges and stay in the country to work, they have a few visa options”(Jingnan). Generally, international students obtain their legal statuses once he or she is done with school through visas like OPT and H-1B visa. Optional Practical Training (OPT), meant for short-term stay allows the students to stay for about one to three years. On the other hand, there is this visa called H-1B visa. This particular visa is meant for long term stay but a bit more difficult to obtain. As employer-sponsored visa, you need to first find a company willing to hire you but also be able to provide the visa which comes with a cost. Moreover, there are far more applicants than the number of H-1B visas awarded in the U.S. According to Jingnan, National Association of Colleges and Employers indicated that less than one-fourth of employers plan to hire international students in 2018. That is in fact a new low and continuing a downward trend.
This trend could also explain why the number of international students entering the U.S. has fallen as I quote, “New enrollments for the 2017-2018 school year slumped 6.6 percent compared with the…3.3 percent decline in new international students tallied in the 2016-2018 academic year”. (Torbati). Though Torbati suggests that there are other factors such as a strong dollar, which makes U.S. college tuition relatively more expensive than before but ultimately it is evident that the restrictions placed in current immigration law play a big role, as I quote, “He noted that Trump has moved to restrict the issuance of skilled-worker visas and permanent residency, which many incoming students may apply for in the future” (Torbati).
The fact that I will one day have to apply for a new visa to stay in the U.S. made this particular personal. With Trump Administration’s pushing towards ‘America First’ agenda, it is important to be aware of immigrations laws and the changes that will happen in the near future. Many students from around the globe come to the U.S. in hopes to get a good college education to land a well paying job. I came to a realization that there are still many people out there who do not fully understand the severity of not being able to obtain a proper legal status. Based on facts, it is evident that obtaining a legal status as an immigrant is becoming harder, however the least we could do for our own is to find solutions or at least be aware of the reality of living in the U.S. as an immigrant.
