Aaron Reichlin-Melnick Profile picture
Sep 24, 2020 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Under DHS's new proposed rule, if you were born in, or are a citizen of, one of the countries on this map, you would be banned from getting a four-year degree in the United States, with a student visa limited to two years maximum.

The thread has all the countries.
Rather than have people dig through the threads to get to the original rationale, here's the relevant provision I built this map off of.

The vast majority of these countries would be banned from 4-year-degrees based on this overstay provision.

It's collective punishment.
Here's a thread I did on some of the other changes made by the rule, which was published this morning.

People who want to oppose the rule will be able to provide comments in opposition to the rule, starting tomorrow and lasting through 10/25/2020.

Here's the best example I can give for why collective punishment based on visa overstay rates is arbitrary and cruel.

In 2019, six students from Tuvalu were supposed to leave the US. One didn't.

As a result, the visa overstay rate was 17%—meaning all Tuvalans would be punished.
Also, whoops, just realizing I forgot to add Chad to the map. Chad would also be subject to the ban, because they had a student visa/exchange visitor overstay rate over 10% in FY2019.

That completes the band across the middle of Africa.
One final thing to add to this thread; that things are not totally lost if the rule goes into effect.

Students in those situation would be able to ask DHS for an extension of their visas past two years. So that means it's not a total ban.

But those extensions aren't guaranteed.
Putting this here: I maybe should not have used the word "ban." Some people would still be able to get a four-year degree, but would be required to apply to extend their visas repeatedly through their time in college—extensions which aren't guaranteed.
Starting tomorrow morning, people will be able to leave a comment in opposition to this rule at this link. federalregister.gov/documents/2020…
DHS says it's fixing a major problem. But DHS data says just 32,023 people are suspected of overstaying a student/exchange visa in 2019.

And because the rule is based on PERCENT, the countries with the highest NUMBER of overstays (China, India, Brazil, Canada) aren't affected.
Here's why a % threshold is so stupid:

China: 11,030 student/exchange overstays (unaffected by rule)
India: 5,304 (unaffected)
Brazil: 3,177 (unaffected)
Saudi Arabia: 2,983 (unaffected)
South Korea: 2,492 (unaffected)
Japan: 1,418 (unaffected)
...
Tuvalu: 1 (restricted)

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More from @ReichlinMelnick

May 12
NEW: As the Trump admin is flying Afrikaners here today to be resettled as "refugees," @Sec_Noem is terminating Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan — meaning they may start deporting women and allies who protected our troops to the Taliban to be persecuted or killed! Image
If @Sec_Noem were to visit Afghanistan, she would be banned from even SPEAKING IN PUBLIC, and yet today she declares that deporting people to the Taliban is actually completely fine — while Trump welcomes a planeload of Afrikaners allegedly facing "persecution." Image
According to @DHSGov, Secretary Noem's decision today will strip protected status from nearly 12,000 Afghans, most here since Operation Allies Welcome in 2022.

Congress failed by a whisker to give them all a path to permanent legal status; now Trump wants them all deported.
Read 4 tweets
May 9
UPDATE: The judge's decision on this came out last night, and it's a DOOZY.

It exposes how the Trump admin stripped a guy of a student visa because Betar tweeted about him, then issued an ICE arrest warrant for him based on an outright lie just 48 hours after Betar's tweet. Image
Judge Kelly found that ICE's arrest of Mr. Ercelik was intended to punish him for pro-Palestinian advocacy.

The DHS warrant issued 48 hours after Betar's tweet said it was because he had been placed into removal proceedings. That was a lie. It didn't happen until 15 days later. Image
The judge found that Mr. Ercelik was arrested and detained by ICE because of Betar's advocacy in support of deporting students who have engaged in pro-Palestine advocacy:

"Respondents’ pursuit of detention seems to have been almost exclusively triggered by Betar Worldwide." Image
Read 6 tweets
May 7
WHOA. This case wasn’t even on my radar. So this guy had to go to court to get ICE not to arrest and detain him on the way to the airport where he’s planning on leaving the country?!

@johnhawkinson reports that the judge just granted a habeas petition — required so he can leave! Image
The Trump admin’s position here is that they want a judge to halt her order granting a guy the right to self-deport — because they want to instead detain him, keep him in custody for weeks/months, and THEN deport him.

She ruled that ICE is trying to punish him, not deport him. Image
Ack sorry. Hasn’t granted yet, but looks like she’s about to.
Read 4 tweets
May 7
HOLY CRAP. The D.V.D. litigators say the Trump administration’s planned flight to Libya is going to be for ASIAN nationals, including Cambodians, Filipinos, and Vietnamese people — and that say that ICE is throwing people into solitary for refusing to agree to be sent to Libya! Image
According to litigators, on Tuesday, at one detention center in Texas, ICE gathered together 1 Vietnamese, 1 Lao, and 4 other people in detention and ordered them to sign paperwork agreeing to be sent to Libya.

All 6 refused, so ICE handcuffed them and threw them into solitary. Image
Just moments ago, Judge Murphy issued an order telling ICE that any efforts to deport non-Libyans to Libya without giving them an opportunity to object and raise a fear of torture “would clearly violate this Court’s Order.”

He’s putting ICE on notice that it would be illegal. Image
Read 11 tweets
May 1
Here's a quick 🧵 on WHY this Trump-appointed judge ruled the way he did.

First, look at the actual text of the Alien Enemies Act itself. It can only be used during a "declared war" or any "invasion or predatory incursion" by a foreign nation or government against the U.S.

1/4 Image
Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act claimed that (1) Tren de Aragua is a "foreign nation or government" because it's controlled by Venezuela, and (2) that the gang was "perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion" against the US with its criminal acts.

2/4 Image
However, the overwhelming weight of historical evidence, as cited by the judge today, makes clear that when Congress wrote the Alien Enemies Act in 1798, "invasion" and "predatory incursion" referred specifically to MILITARY action. Here are some examples cited by the judge.

3/4 Image
Image
Read 9 tweets
Apr 30
NEW! Two weeks ago Trump was stopped from sending more people to be imprisoned in El Salvador. Now we're learning who they were — and the stories are OUTRAGEOUS.

One guy was accused of being in TdA because of his tattoos, which include Pikachu, Toad, and Patrick from SpongeBob! Image
Another man facing imminent risk of being imprisoned in El Salvador potentially for life is a guy working at H-E-B- and doing Doordash on the side.

His tattoos? A pocket watch with the date his father passed away, and roses to honor his family. ICE said they were gang tattoos! Image
Image
All of this is happening even though experts have repeatedly said TREN DE ARAGUA DO NOT USE GANG TATTOOS. They are not like MS-13, a gang with a formalized set of tattoos.

So these men were going to be imprisoned without trial or due process based on a complete fiction! Image
Read 6 tweets

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