Inside Higher Ed: Kafka at the Border
Everyone agrees that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the United States was so worried about who it would let into the country that visa problems were widespread — even for many scholars posing no security threat. But the Bush administration has boasted that things are better now — and that the United States wants foreign talent to feel welcome.
Tell that to Karim Meziane. He’s a citizen of Canada and a physicist at the University of New Brunswick, who was turned away at the U.S. border in 2004 when he was trying to attend a research conference to which he had been invited by the University of New Hampshire.
While many have been turned away or denied visas or just had visa applications languish, Meziane’s case is unusual: He got the Department of Homeland Security to tell him, in writing, why he was persona non grata. He was then able to demonstrate — with written government documents — that the department was wrong. But to this day, he can’t get anyone to change the conclusion or even talk about the case. And when the head of Canada’s largest professors’ group asked for a meeting with the U.S. ambassador to talk about the case and the issues it raises, he was turned down without explanation.
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