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IMMIGRATION ADVISORY TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
and
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE FROM LOCAL STUDENTS
Please read the entirety of this email regardless of whether or not you think you are affected.
Salaam Alaykum,
As many of you may know, President Trump has signed an executive order suspending immigration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. In practice, this order has prevented nationals from these countries, as well as other Muslim-majority countries, from entering the United States. In light of this, there are certain actions that everyone should take, International or not. We would also like to extend resources and support to those who need it. Please see below for details on action, help needed and support.
International students:
- On the advice of lawyers from across the nation, and pursuant to the recent University Notification, we advise all nationals of these countries to avoid international travel until immigration policy is revised. International travel may jeopardize your ability to re-enter the United States and continue your education.
- Further to this, we advise all international students from Muslim-majority countries to avoid international travel, regardless of whether they are nationals of the aforementioned countries or not. There have been numerous cases of Muslim university students not from the affected countries being refused entry. International travel may jeopardize your ability to re-enter the United States and continue your education.
- If you feel you must travel, consult with an immigration attorney before making any decisions.
- As an extra precaution, legal advice suggests that international students travelling (domestically or otherwise) should keep a copy of their passport, I-20, and visa on them at all times. This can be as simple as a photograph on your phone. While this is not necessary it may be a valuable precaution.
- If you are directly affected, please reply directly to this email and we will do all we can to co-ordinate assistance.
- Those who speak Arabic can assist with refugees by translating between immigrants and lawyers over the phone. If you wish to do this, please email president@upennmsa.org with the subject title “Refugee Translation Assistance” and we will connect you onwards to those co-ordinating the effort. If you wish to assist refugees already in the States in other ways, please email president@upennmsa.org with the subject title “Local Refugee Assistance”.
- There are various resources available for help. You can contact Penn MSA and we will try to connect you to an appropriate resource. Other resources include:
American students:
- Note that international student friends may be stuck in the country indefinitely, some of them without any family in the country. As one Ummah, it is our responsibility to stick together and support each other, and thus this is a good time to extend an invitation to those affected even if you do not know them very well. As this order is active for 90 days, it covers spring break, and thus many international students may be stuck in the country with nowhere to go for this vacation.
- If you know of any immigration attorneys, please forward their information to president@upennmsa.org so that we may connect students to them.
In other news, a mosque in Quebec, Canada, was attacked yesterday with multiple casualties. We understand that this is a cause of concern for many people and want to reassure you that the University and the Division of Public Safety are on alert.
As always, the MSA is here to help and for anyone seeking support. Feel free to contact us through any means you wish; our Muslim Chaplain Patricia Anton is currently in SPARC (Suite 240 Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce St), as is our University Chaplain Chaz Howard.
We will be monitoring the situation in the coming weeks and will keep you abreast of any updates.
With love,
Zuhaib Badami
President
Muslim Students Association at the University of Pennsylvania
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