International and undocumented students are dealing with a situation that creates hard choices for them. The threat of banning the J-1 and other visa program to allow students and workers to come work and study in the United States.
President elect Donald Trump’s plan would impact over 300,000 people from 200 countries, many of whom are college students. Students and workers fear Trump’s presidency could deter international students from coming to the U.S. to study and put undocumented students at risk for deportation.
Anna Milanes, 19, a first year business major, said her family came to this country illegally. Milanes said she and her two younger brothers who are both undocumented and attend De Anza, fear that they would get deported every single day.
Manny Gonzalez, 21, is an accounting major who works for Higher Education for AB 540 Students (HEFAS) at De Anza College. He said there are thousands of students at De Anza College who are undocumented and seek help every day. The students seek help in the form of receiving school supplies, textbooks, and get advice from student leaders.
After the night Trump got elected to president of the United States, Gonzalez and members of HEFAS stood in front of the De Anza library to protest against Trump becoming president. They said people have the right to work and live in the United States to seek a better life.
Gonzalez said, “We are dedicated to empowering students, building leadership skills, promoting social justice, and advocating for higher education. HEFAS is an institutional and educational program that provides free resources, reduces financial stress, and creates a safe learning environment for all students with an emphasis on undocumented/AB 540 information.”
Mike Pence, said that he and Trump “have been very, very clear about the issue of suspending immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism.” If an international student is from a country the Trump administration would consider “compromised by terrorism,” they may be barred from entry,” based on voanews report..
Will Solomon, 20, is a film production major. He is a Swiss International student who has been here for 3 months. He said he loves studying abroad in the United States.
“Its an opportunity for me to study about film production [at] De Anza because the transfer rate is highest and I [am] able to transfer to universities [that] have film [majors] like UCLA,San Francisco State, etc,” Solomon said.
He looked pretty sad after hearing about the ban of the international student program because he has friends back in his country who wanted to study aboard too.
Vicky Moreno, 35 year-old, a councilor at De Anza College, said she talks to many students every quarter and learn that many have a background of immigrant families.
“Trump he has the voice and money but he couldn’t do anything because California colleges and universities will do their best to protect students rights,” Moreno said.
Ali Mohamed, 19, second-year political science at De Anza, said that Middle Eastern students coming to the U.S. already face high rates of visa denials and long delays in process.
“I know personal cases where people had to postpone their school one year because of the processing,” he said. “Could make it infeasible for Middle Eastern students to come to the U.S.”
International & AB540 Community 