{"id":318076,"date":"2020-12-15T17:03:33","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T22:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=318076"},"modified":"2023-11-08T20:11:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T01:11:26","slug":"harvard-president-urges-immigration-restriction-reversal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/12\/harvard-president-urges-immigration-restriction-reversal\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacow letter urges Biden to reverse Trump immigration curbs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
\"Widener.\"

Widener Library in Harvard Yard.<\/p>

Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tBacow letter urges Biden to reverse Trump immigration curbs\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\tColleen Walsh\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard president backs DACA, TPS, and ending Muslim-nation travel ban\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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Harvard President Larry Bacow has urged President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to reverse a series of immigration restrictions imposed by the Trump administration over the past four years, arguing that the steady flow of talented immigrants to the United States \u2014 many coming to study at a college or university \u2014 historically has been a key ingredient of the nation\u2019s innovation economy.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent Monday<\/a> congratulating Biden on his election victory, Bacow wrote in support of the incoming administration\u2019s plans to rescind the ban on travel from certain Muslim-majority countries, reinstate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, otherwise known as DACA, and reissue Temporary Protected Status for people from countries experiencing war or natural disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we are able to achieve a more permanent solution, protections will be\u00a0necessary to ensure that these individuals do not lose the right to live and work in the United States,\u00a0including many at Harvard,\u201d wrote Bacow.<\/p>\n

Citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Harvard\u2019s president also asked Biden to instruct the Student Exchange Visa Program to resume granting entry to international students and to ensure that those currently enrolled in full-time distance learning will maintain their status. To secure a U.S. visa, international students normally need to be enrolled full-time in in-person classes. The Trump administration temporarily waived that requirement when many institutions shifted to online instruction in March, but attempted to reimpose it in the summer, only to back down in the face of lawsuits by Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other colleges and universities. And many international students newly enrolled in the fall have had to continue to study from far-flung time zones due to an inability to secure visas to travel to the U.S.<\/p>\n\r\n

\u201cWith energy, talent, and determination,\u00a0immigrants have helped make our nation, economy, and communities stronger and more prosperous.\u201d<\/p>\nLarry Bacow, Harvard University president<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n

\u201cNearly every country in the world admits immigrants, but the United States has long been\u00a0defined by the immigrant origins of many of our citizens. Throughout our history, waves of immigrants\u00a0have come here and made this country their home. With energy, talent, and determination,\u00a0immigrants have helped make our nation, economy, and communities stronger and more prosperous,\u201d Bacow wrote. Higher education, he noted, has brought many immigrants to the U.S., where they have thrived and contributed to society and the economy.<\/p>\n

Bacow\u2019s letter came on a historic day as hundreds of electors met in state capitals across the country to cast their ballots for president, giving Biden a total of 306 electoral votes, 36 more than the 270 needed to win. The Electoral College\u2019s vote represented another important step in confirming Biden\u2019s status as president-elect, an outcome President Trump and many of his allies continue to contest. Also on Monday the first Americans began receiving the vaccine designed to protect them from COVID-19, as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 300,000.<\/p>\n

The past nine months, Bacow wrote, have once again demonstrated the important role foreign-born people play, including on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors and nurses caring for the sick and as scientists researching treatments and vaccines. He specifically cited the contributions of Noubar Afeyan, the chairman of Moderna, the Cambridge biotechnology company that has developed one of the leading potential vaccines. A native of Beirut, Afeyan earned his Ph.D. at MIT and is now a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough his contribution is exceptional,\u00a0Afeyan\u2019s story is not unique,\u201d Bacow said. \u201cThe National Science Board estimates that as many as 50 percent of\u00a0United States Ph.D. holders in the high-demand fields of science and engineering were born abroad.\u00a0Additionally, more than a third \u2014 37 percent \u2014 of U.S. scientists who received Nobel Prizes in\u00a0chemistry, physics, and medicine since 2000 were immigrants, as well as five of Harvard\u2019s 13 prize\u00a0winners since 1998.<\/p>\n\r\n

\u201cI think we all fear President Biden is going to have a lot on his plate, and we are hopeful that people like President Bacow can help by showing what we think the priorities should be.\u201d<\/p>\nMaureen Martin, director of Immigration Services for Harvard\u2019s International Office<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\n

\u201cTo remain a world leader,\u201d Harvard\u2019s president concluded, \u201cthe U.S. and its colleges and universities must be open to ensure that we do not become isolated from the discourse that occurs outside of our borders. Our\u00a0present immigration system does not do nearly enough to encourage the legitimate flow of people\u00a0and ideas or recognize the contributions that immigrants make to the U.S. The COVID pandemic\u00a0has taught us that many of our most difficult challenges are global\u2014and their solutions lie in\u00a0international relationships and research collaborations that are established over time and enabled\u00a0by flexible and accessible immigration policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maureen Martin, director of Immigration Services for Harvard\u2019s International Office, said she welcomed Bacow\u2019s continued support on such an important topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I saw the letter, I forwarded it to our staff because it\u2019s been such a tough year, and something like this really just makes everybody in the office so grateful that President Bacow takes such an interest in the immigration realm,\u201d said Martin, whose office provides a range of services for more than 10,000 Harvard-affiliated international students and scholars. \u201cThe last four years have been a real grind, and we are looking forward to turning the page here. I think we all fear President Biden is going to have a lot on his plate, and we are hopeful that people like President Bacow can help by showing what we think the priorities should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberto Gonzales, a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and director of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard, a University-wide effort to advance immigration research, said Bacow\u2019s recommendations represent \u201ca step in the right direction for a diverse set of immigrants on our campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n

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