By Casey Roepke ’21
News Editor
President Donald Trump issued an executive order to temporarily suspend new work visas on Monday, June 22. This executive order will combine with existing green card issuance restrictions to bar over 500,000 workers from entering the country, according to The New York Times. The order went into effect on June 24 and will continue through Dec. 31, 2020.
In a statement to the Mount Holyoke community, Bri Rhodes, the director of international student advising for the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives, outlined the impacts of this executive order. Rhodes wrote that Trump’s order “suspends issuance of NEW work visas for those who are currently outside of the U.S.”
Rhodes continued, “There are some exceptions for some people working in health, defense or law enforcement but it’s very unclear what that means.”
Dean of Faculty Jon Western also issued a statement in response to the visa suspension. He wrote, “At this point, no member of our community is directly impacted. We continue to be in touch with all faculty and staff who hold visas and recent alums on OPT (Optional Practical Training) to share updates from our legal counsel.”
According to Rhodes, this suspension of new visas will mean that international workers cannot be issued employment-based visas, although there is a “relevant exception for people seeking a J (exchange visitor) visa as a professor or a scholar.” She said there is “no direct, legal impact on students” because student visas are different from the employment-based visas affected by Trump’s order. Students who are trying to change their visa type from a student visa to a work visa are still allowed to apply.
The executive order does impact the College’s relationship with international faculty.
“This [order] could impair the College’s ability to recruit some international faculty, depriving students of the opportunity to learn with them,” Rhodes said. “It could make employers in general more wary of hiring international employees and reduce job opportunities for those seeking work visas.”
Rhodes also spoke of the psychological effect the order may have on students. “It is inaccurate to say that the order has no impact on students,” she said. “While more than a quarter of Mount Holyoke students are international students here on student visas, many others are on a variety of visa types [which] come from mixed-status families.”
Rhodes explained that, while the College was aware that an order affecting work visas was in the works since late May, no one knew what the contents would be.
The College’s stance on the executive order was articulated by Western in his statement. “I want to express my profound disagreement with this executive order and the broader effort by this administration to restrict the flow of people across borders,” Western wrote. “This is antithetical to our scholarly mission and purpose which is premised on the free flow of people and ideas that are vital to the creation of knowledge and core to our commitment to global diversity and inclusiveness.”