Mr. President. the fact that the administration needs to be reminded is the saddest fact of all. So careful is the administration not to offend the power structure in Communist China that it has produced one of the most ironic immigration policies which I have come across in my years in the Senate. It is easier today for a Chinese student fully sponsored by. and supportive of. the repressive regime to obtain from the State Department a student J1 visa than it is for an independent Chinese student with his or her own earned tuition funds to obtain an F1 student visa. This summer I took up the cause of a group of Chinese students stranded in Japan after the repressive actions of the Chinese Government. These students simply wanted to come to the United States to study. not emigrate. They gave the State Department every assurance legal and financial that they would comply with U.S. law and that they would leave the United States upon the completion of their studies. Fortunately. 22 of these students were granted visas and most are now studying at Dana College in Blair. NE. I had the honor of greeting these students when they arrived in Omaha where the students presented me with stalks of wheat to symbolize sowing the seeds of freedom and democracy. Mr. President. the faces of these students. so full of hope and idealism. would have touched the heart of even the toughest of tough guys. Sadly. 180 of their friends and colleagues were left behind in Japan because the administration turned a deaf ear to their visa requests. Unfortunately. the bill before the Senate today will not help those 180 Chinese students stranded in Japan. unable to move forward to study in the United States and unable to move backward to China where they would face certain repression. Last year. the U.S.
Keywords matched
emigrate immigration visas visa