The Pacific News Service spotlights the stories of some foreign South Asian students who are coping with the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Specifically the story focuses on their fears of being deported if they are unable to stay enrolled in a school that has been knocked out of commission, or if they seek out help from FEMA in these post-9/11 times:
“We’re homeless. We cannot work off campus. We are in a bad situation. Everyone is trying to survive. We are moving from place to place.”Tulane University student Azad, who wouldn’t give his last name lest “I get into trouble,” was not just mouthing off. He meant every word of what he said, and what he said was an echo of what a number of other immigrant students from the Indian sub-continent were saying in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast earlier this month turned Azad’s life upside down, along with everyone else’s. Only, in the case of immigrant students like Azad, especially those from predominantly Muslim countries like his, many are wondering whether to seek help from federal agencies, or just lie low and continue banking on the uncertain help of friends and acquaintances.
“The fear they are experiencing is understandable,” Artesia, Calif.,-based South Asian Network’s executive director Hamid Khan told India-West. “It’s because of how South Asians, and particularly how Muslim students have been demonized” in the wake of 9/11. “Students with Muslim names face a higher degree of scrutiny. That’s why even in times of need they are afraid to reach out so that they don’t show up on the radar screen.”
This is when you often hear the oversimplified advice, “well if you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear.” That advice doesn’t mean much to these students who, because of the fear of getting caught in the system, would rather keep their heads down even if it means enduring hardship. The U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement office announced last week that it was temporarily lifting the restriction that binds a student visa holder to a particular institution.
Immigrant students’ fears could have been reinforced recently after the Department of Homeland Security announced that immigrants have no immunity from deportation when providing information required to receive federal aid.Suhaila, a doctoral student at Tulane University, who last week was accepted at Columbia University to complete her program in public health, said she didn’t want her last name to be used in this story because she wanted to be cautious “because you never know.”
“Immigration people say a lot of things, but we can’t believe them,” [another student] Waheed said. “Students are worried about losing their status if they don’t stay enrolled in Tulane.”
South Asian student enrollment at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge has shot up in the last few days. At least 40 Indian students from the University of New Orleans and Tulane have transferred to LSU, said Prof. Krishna Agnihotri, a teacher at Southern University College of Business and a founding member of the Hindu American Community Katrina Relief Organization. The group last week donated microwaves, blenders, mattresses, sleeping bags, pillows and bedsheets to the newly enrolled Indian American students, Agnihotri said.
If any students in this situation are reading this they can contact the South Asian Network at 562-403-0488 for advice and help.
abhi, this is deep, and important. thank you for keeping on top of subjects such as this one.
peace
abhi,
this is a very important topic. thank you.
in general, the new ideas, creativity, and growth in America comes through international students.
for most part, they are shafted around and singled out for new tough measures because of their vulnerable place in the american society.
what fraction of 9/11 bombers who were ex-students constitute to the total number of international students?
The immigration related problems in this country are just getting from bad to worse. On the international students front, the US is loosing out in a big way to EU and Australia since 9/11. Most of these students stick around in the US as highly skilled workorce through the H1B and the Greencard process – both of which are archaic processes. The employment based green card process ,for instance, requires one to stick around in the same company and job for an extended period of time – which is about 5 years these days. A form of modern slavery. With the visa numbers being retrogresed, that average period is only increasing.
Some organizations like AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) is working on supporting some new bills in Congress.
If it ticlkes your fancy, do support it at: http://capwiz.com/aila2/home/
I agree – great post Abhi. When illegal immigrants seem to have a voice after the disaster, so should students like Azad. hats off to the South Asian Network for their work.
abhi
You raised a very valid point. As far as I see it, its a perfect catch 22 situation. The same happened after 9/11 with a lot of people working then. It is sad that as students one has to go through this. Money is always an issue when a student, and most depend on some sort of paid work to make ends meet. Now with the colleges not functioning, its a double whammy for students.
Maybe a body like SAJA or AILA should take up the cause and make a stand to the government. That is the only way the issue will be heard and hopefully addressed. Students on their own are just going to be steamrolled.
Especially “Muslim” and “International” students.
I don’t know how genuine this organisation is, they posted a message to one of the Yahoo News Katrina message boards whose “looking for” messages are being input into the Katrina Help Wiki People Finder data base http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=next3&action=m&tid=hvkatrint36f0&sid=37138446&mid=248 KatrinaCampusRelief.org by: larahansen19 09/23/05 12:43 am Msg: 248 of 250 Katrina Campus Relief is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing college level students, affected by the gulf coast hurricane, with all the necessities required to rebuild self esteem and educational focus.
Visit http://www.katrinacampusrelief.org to find out more.
When I was on an H1B visa, the company I worked for went bankrupt, and laid off me (and close to a hundred others). Luckily for me, I was able to find something in a couple of days, and so did most of the others. However, the remaining (a couple of dozens) could not find anything for more than a month and they went “Out of Status”. They went back to India. They did not complain that “We did not do anything wrong. Why should we have to be penalised?” They knew the system – you need to have a sponsor to stay legally in the counrty – and they had got caught in the system. They did not fall into the pit of victimhood. They did not ask for federal aid. They did not ask for help from “South Asian” agencies.
These “South Asian” students also need to be “educated” that the system requires you to be sponsored by a school and you need to take a certain number of courses every semester. Whether the school gets washed over by a hurricane or whether it goes bankrupt because of a pension fund collapse is immaterial.
Go back. America does not need whiners who ask for a crutch as soon as there is harship. America needs winners.
M. Nam
Well God pity this country if its going to be infused by the likes of you !
makes sense that your arrogant arse was laid off. winners would not have let the company drown in the first place.
I really cant believe the above comment. Amazing, that entire US (and world) is going out of their way to try and help the people who were hit by Katrina, this person is asking the students to suck it up.
Way to go !!! next thing you should do is to kick a handicapped person and tell that person, why do you need a special ramp to get into the building? See, I am a winner, I have to legs…
I hope this person is not serious about the above. Unfortunately, this apparent mr.Winner seems serious.
I thought people on student visas had to prove before coming to the country that they can have enough funds to support their stay and studies in the US (without counting any possible work studies or on campus jobs). I don’t understand how Katrina can affect that. They told immigration before they came here that they have enough funds from their home country to support their US stay. Katrina didn’t happen in their home countries. It’s not just South East Asian students or Indians that are suffereing from Katrina. They are just worrying about losing some on campus jobs or some off campus jobs where they work illegally while the rest of the people have lost their families and homes and a lot have lost everything they had. I think instead of whining and just berating their loss of a job and the possibility of going back to their countries, they should be thankful that’s all that is lost and think about the people who have sufferred worse and try to help them instead. Thank you.
MoorNam’s comments are so out there, it’s hard to know where to begin. You make these students — who have real concerns about their status because of the Katrina aftermath — sound like they are waiting around looking for a handout. Shame on you for your total lack of empathy for these students. The US educational system worked well for you, and now you want to deny them the same benefits you enjoyed? Moreover, what have you done to help out in Katrina and Rita’s aftermath?
I came on student visa and still depended on campus jobs. Looks like you are a “winner” too like the earlier poster 🙂
If these are the types of “brains” that have “drained” from India, India should be thankful that the drainage has occured.
Give me your sired, your boor,
Your ingrate masses yearning to study free,
The wretched who refuse your teeming shore.
Send these, the spineless, crutched to me,
I lift my lamp beside the government dole!”
Moornam, my thoughts exactly. NOT.
Do you care to explain your half baked views, or would you rather be cute with that poorly written verse? Enjoy your non-H1B status and be glad you’re at least getting a paycheck, bud.
“give me your winners(yup, the winners), spare me from your losers, send me your able, keep your filthy disable …. “
As I am a nasty bitch !!!
(Thank god the real lady liberty is not that)
The American Dream gives alot of people the impression that “you deserve what you get in life, and that you can do anything if you work hard and put your mind to it”. Likewise, the belief that “if you don’t succeed – and you fail, you must have done something to deserve it” is also held. This belief, while very inspiring, isn’t always valid. And at times like these, such a belief makes people less empathetic or even compassionate. How sad.
i’d hate to pay more attention to moornam’s comments than what they actually deserve, but i can’t passively read such narrow-minded comments and keep quiet.
do you mean to say that anyone who seeks assistance in their time of need (whether of their creation or otherwise) falls into the “pit of victimhood”? I would think that events such as katrina, rita, the tsunami, any kind of natural disaster would inspire compassion and humanity, and not judgemental intolerance.
any university student who has to work to study and survive (irrespective of where s/he is from) deserves our sympathies and assistance after katrina and rita. but i can’t even begin to imagine the confusion, frustration, and pure helplessness these international students must feel–especially given the governmental scrutiny that will invariably fall on them.
why does it bother you so much that an organization out there recognizes their plight and chooses to do something about it? how does it affect you as long when nothing is asked of you except perhaps an ounce of decency and sympathy?
A typical non-rational, emotional argument in cases like this is: What if this happened to you or someone dear to you? Don’t you have any pity or empathy? How heartless can you be?
I don’t want to answer to this kind of emotional blackmail.
There are many organisations helping these students. Many universities have offered to absorb NewOrleans students into their campuses(if they meet the criteria). America gives every immigrant a chance to make it big – if you play by the rules. Don’t try to game the system. Pay your taxes. Be legal. The rules are quire simple.
If the South Asian Network aids even one illegal student, it opens itself to scrutiny, lawsuits and possible imprisonment of its members.
M. Nam
MoorNam,
Just asking……..Where you ever an international student in USA? Even with financial aid (scholarship, assistantship, etc.), it is not at all easy for international students, For financial aid, you have to be a permanent resident, at least.
Walk into MIT, Caltech, Columbia, Cornell, and see how many are international graduate students – more than 50 %. Cornell needs international students as much they need Cornell, please get that right.
Just curious.
I do not agree even .01% with your reasoning but hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Lack of empathy is the first sigh of autism.
Kush
Corrrection:
“Even with financial aid (scholarship, assistantship, etc.), it is not at all easy for international students, For financial aid, you have to be a permanent resident, at least.”
shoud read as:
Even with financial aid (scholarship, assistantship, etc.), it is not at all easy for international students, For financial loan, you have to be a permanent resident, at least.
There is a huge difference in loan, scholarship, and assistantship.
Kush,
I am well aware of all the travails of IS in US.
I thought that bleeding hearts(as you called yourself) were not supposed to be judgemental!?!
M. Nam
M. Nam
“I thought that bleeding hearts(as you called yourself) were not supposed to be judgemental!?!”
OK, Apologies. I should refrain from being judgemental. Point taken.
Kush
That means this person has not been an international student. But how quick is the judgement without experiencing it first hand.