Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC Outraged by Secretary of State Rubio’s Directive to Revoke Visas for Chinese Students
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security will work together to revoke visas for Chinese students and that visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong will be subject to enhanced scrutiny.
Advancing Justice – AAJC issues the following statement in response:
“Sec. Rubio’s announcement is yet another blow to international students and academia by the Trump administration. National security should undeniably be a top priority – but resorting to fearmongering, racial profiling, and xenophobia is never the answer. His vague statement is rooted in racist ideas that paint all Chinese students as a threat to national security, when the reality is that the overwhelming majority of students simply come here to learn.
“History has proven that exclusionary and discriminatory policies based on stereotypes rarely address actual national security concerns. Instead, they fuel prejudice and unfair targeting of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans. They have destroyed lives and careers and negatively impacted our country’s competitiveness in global innovation. Further complicating matters, this directive disregards the contributions Chinese students, and international students more broadly, have made to our nation’s economy. Attacks on academia don’t just hurt students, they hurt all Americans. Advancing Justice – AAJC reaffirms our commitment to pushing back against any effort by the government to enable racial profiling under national security pretexts.”
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