On the morning of May 7th, 2020 thousands of graduate students across the United States woke up to a stress-inducing news story that would go unnoticed by most of the country. After all, although it was the height of the first wave of a global pandemic, International graduate students had more than the pandemic to worry about. A group of republican senators - Tom Cotton, of Arkansas; Ted Cruz, of Texas; Chuck Grassley, of Iowa; and Josh Hawley, of Missouri sent a letter to then President Trump to suspend the optional practical training program (OPT), a program that enables international students to stay in the U.S. to work for up to three years after graduating while staying on their student visas. Senator Tom Cotton argued that “there is certainly no reason to allow foreign students to stay for three additional years just to take jobs that would otherwise go to unemployed Americans as our economy recovers.” In contrast to these claims, a study published by the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization focused on immigration and international trade, found “no evidence that foreign students participating in the OPT program reduce job opportunities for U.S. workers. Instead, the evidence suggests that U.S. employers are more likely to turn to foreign student workers when U.S. workers are scarcer.”
The sentiment expressed by these senators is hardly new. In 2018, officials in the department of homeland security proposed a drastic cut to H-1B visas, a type of temporary work visa for “high skilled” workers. The proposal aimed to end the provision of granting extensions to H-1B visa holders whose applications for permanent residency (Green Card) had been accepted, aligning with then President Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” policy. This would’ve potentially led to mass deportations of foreign workers. Due to annual limits of 140,000 in employment based green card issuance, combined with per-country restrictions, many foreign nationals have to wait for their status to adjust. The new rule would have forced these workers to leave the country during the waiting period. While unsuccessful at the time, the COVID-19 pandemic offered another opportunity for the Trump administration to restrict high skilled immigration to the U.S. On June 22nd, 2020 the Trump administration issued a proclamation barring many categories of foreign workers and curbing immigration visas through the end of the year. They cited the high unemployment rate as a primary reason. The move drew harsh criticism from many business leaders including the CEOs of tech giants Apple and Twitter, who emphasized the devastating effects of the move, unnecessarily stifling America’s attractiveness to global, high-skilled talent as being short-sighted and deeply damaging to the economic strength of the United States.
Naturally, these anti-immigration positions leave their marks on the mental health of international graduate students and scientists. Miguel*, a graduate student from South America who studies heart disease at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said that during most of last year he was reluctant to open his news app in fear of another restrictive immigrationpolicy. “It really makes you feel unwelcome here,” he told me in a candid conversation. Being an international student myself, I agree. Most scientists arriving in the United States have a limited and incomplete view of American society — often sculpted by movies, TV shows, and magazines. The metaphorical melting pot that is portrayed in Hollywood was one of the determining drivers that led me to come. The harsh reality that I, and many like me across the country, have been facing in recent years has certainly reconstructed our perception of American society. As Twitter’s leadership statement said — America’s attractiveness to global talent will suffer as a consequence.
The question remains, why do so many politicians push this narrative of “foreigners taking away good American jobs”? According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans (62%) continue to say the country’s openness to people from around the world is “essential to who we are as a nation.” Yet, there is a sharp divide across the political spectrum. While more than 85% of people who identify as leaning democrat agree with the statement that America’s openness to people from all over the world is essential, more than half (57%) of people leaning republican say that America is too open and at risk of losing its identity. But what is this “American identity” that these individuals fear America may lose? Does this identity include scientific excellence? While nearly half of all Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine have been awarded to U.S. based researchers, upon closer examination, almost 40% of those were awarded to foreign born scientists.
In light of all this, why do students from all over the world continue to pour into the United States every year? The answers are numerous and heterogeneous depending on the persons’ background. The simplest and most obvious reason is, according to the Times Higher Education Rankings, 15 of the top 20 universities are in the United States. The U.S. government invests more than 600 billion USD on research and development, far more in total than any other country. Sandra*, a second-year post-doctoral fellow from Bangladesh tells me, “there are just no comparable facilities and resources” in her home country. Additionally, Sandra* says, “the caliber of science done in the U.S. is just a world apart. It is somewhat of a badge of honor to work with some of the most renowned scientists in the world”.
Indeed, when I think back on my own decision process to move across the ocean, learning from and competing with “the best” was a huge motivational force. Nicolas*, a post-doctoral fellow who arrived here from Spain in 2018 came with the intent to improve his scientific skills for a few years and then return home and find employment there. However, soon after his arrival he completely changed his plans and decided he wanted to stay and work in the U.S. He cited the exceptional intellectual and diverse environment that he wouldn’t find in his home country as his primary reason. Like many others, Nicolas* was hit by the restrictions on J-1 visas (temporary non-immigrant visa most international post-doctoral fellows are on), prohibiting from re-entering the United States if he were to leave the country, even in case of a family emergency.
A critical question for foreign born scientists is, what’s in store for the future? At the present time, almost 80% of graduate students in STEM are international. After the November 2020 presidential election, there was a shift in both the congressional and presidential party leadership. While the Biden administration recently announced that it will let the Trump proclamation on the suspension of H-1B visas expire, they have not yet announced any plans of their own. Whether there will be any true progress, remains to be seen. If the U.S. wants to keep its competitive edge in science and technology, it needs to reverse its approach toward high skilled immigration — fostering and encouraging international students rather than restricting and alienating us. Miguel* tells me, while fiddling a pipette and preparing for a new experiment, at least now he can sleep calmly at night without the fear of having to drop everything, and leave the country and all his academic dreams behind.
*Names and place origin changed to preserve privacy
Edited by Elie Goldberg
