50 Syracuse University students told not to travel in response to Trump executive order
Sam Ogozalek | Asst. News Editor
Syracuse University students protested Donald Trump's proposed immigration policies, specifically regarding immigrants and refugees, after the election in November.
UPDATED: Jan. 28, 2017 at 3:02 p.m.
About 50 Syracuse University students have been advised not to travel outside the United States because under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, they will be barred from re-entering the country.
The executive order, signed by Trump on Friday night, suspends the U.S. intake of refugees and prohibits travel from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for the next 90 days. This includes green card holders and those with student visas.
In an email sent to SU students with student visas from the countries in the executive order, Pat Burak, director of the Slutzker Center for International Services, recommended that students not travel for the next 90 days because they wouldn’t be allowed to return to the U.S. Thirty of those students, according to Slutzker Center data, are graduate students from Iran.
Burak added that more students could be impacted because the executive order also applies to those with green cards, Reuters reported, but the Slutzker Center does not collect that data.
… literally cannot get back into the country if they leave. They can’t go home for spring break. They can’t go abroad for research (8).
— Rachel Sandler (@rachsandl) January 28, 2017
“As long as they stay in the country, nothing bad will happen to them,” said Burak in an interview on Saturday afternoon. “… But I’m not in support of it, it’s horrible.”
Last year, about 17,000 students were studying in the U.S. from the seven countries in Trump’s executive order, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors report.
I am an Iranian PhD student at Yale Uni. Now overseas to do research. Trump’s EO might prevent me from returning to the US! #MuslimBan
— Ali Abdi (@AliAbdi88) January 28, 2017
Some universities have students currently overseas who will not be able to re-enter the U.S. Ali Abdi, a PhD student at Yale University and permanent U.S. resident, was doing research in Afghanistan and is now in legal limbo in Dubai, unable to enter the U.S, according to The Guardian. SU does not have any students from the seven banned countries in this situation, Burak said.
Published on January 28, 2017 at 2:12 pm
Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu
