[1352] in peace2
Learn about the status of Iranian students in the US
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mohammad Mahdian)
Wed Dec 19 22:28:34 2001
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 22:28:23 -0500 (EST)
From: Mohammad Mahdian <mahdian@math.mit.edu>
To: <peace-list@mit.edu>
cc: Mehdi Yahyanejad <mehdi@mit.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0112192222500.8839-100000@lebesgue.mit.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Dear friends,
After Sep 11, there has been attempts to improve the security in this
country, which seems to be a reasonable action, but unfortunately the
prejudices and discriminations overshadowed the genuine attempts of
security improvement. Senator Feinstein took the lead by purposing a
legislation to prohibit students from "terrorist sponsoring countries".
This effectively targets Iranian since the number of students from other
countries on the list is nominal. Under strong opposition of universities
and activity of Iranians in Bay area the bill was withdrawn. But now a new
bill on immigration and visa regulations has been proposed which includes
a section on banning ALL immigrant visas to any citizen of those countries
unless state department determines that the individual does not pose a
threat to the America. This is not a all-categorical ban by definition,
but in practice it will be.
This legislation not only will make the entry of new Iranian students
impossible to U.S., but also it could seriously complicate home visits of
current Iranian students attending American schools. It also bars visits of
any Iranian national to U.S., which for many us that translate to no visits
from our close family members.
We, in MIT, are trying to push for some awareness about our problems in the
local environment. We invite you to come to our "awareness session" where
we discuss what the problem is in more detail, what has been done, and what
we could do about it. There would be two presentation in this meeting. One
will be on the details of the bill, and the other will be on what we can do
about it. At the end, there will be an open discussion. This session is
organized by Persian Student Association of MIT.
Our target of audience aren't just Iranian students. You can be any one who
has came to this county on a student visa, an Iranian American whose
parents came here on a non-immigrant visa, an American who worries about
the civil liberties in this country and diversity in this country, or
simply a human being who has two hours of free time on Thursday night.
Event : "Awareness Session : State of Iranian students in U.S." (in
English)
Time : 6:30 - 7:30p.m. (presentation)
7:30 - 7:35p.m. (break)
7:35 - 8:30p.m. (discussion)
When : Thursday, Dec 20, 2000
Location : MIT, Rm 1-190
Best,
Mehdi Yahyanejad
