CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to tell the story of how last
week's reckless and poorly implemented executive order indiscriminately
banning immigrants from seven countries directly impacted two
University of California, Santa Barbara graduate students in my
district. My office was contacted by Hassan Arbabi, a Ph.D. student in
mechanical engineering at UCSB. Hassan reached out to me on behalf of
his girlfriend, Maryam Rasekh, who has also been accepted into UCSB's
Ph.D. program for electrical engineering. Maryam, an Iranian citizen, left the United States to undergo the
vetting process for her F-1 student visa in order to attend graduate
school in Santa Barbara. For months, Maryam interviewed and underwent
an exhaustive administrative immigration process. Maryam's F-1 student visa was approved on Friday, January 26, the
same day the President signed his executive order banning all
immigrants from Iran. The order prevented Maryam from returning to the
United States to begin her studies. We have in place the strictest vetting process in the world. Banning
immigrants like Maryam from pursuing higher education degrees does not
make us safer. It prevents people like Maryam from making important
scientific advances and contributing to our Nation.
Keywords matched
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