US hunting Third World elites despite travel bans

Indian students going to the US have doubled over the last decade but those coming from US to India fall by 5% in 2016, says a global report, a local media The Print reported.

'California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are the top five US states receiving Indian students and each saw an increase in international students in 2016-17,' The Print quoted the 2017 ‘Open Doors Report’ reporting.

The Indian news venture also quoted the report prepared by the Institute of International Education, a non-profit, and the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs revealing that the number of Indian students coming to the US has doubled over the last decade and now India is the second leading place of students, comprising 17.3 per cent of the total international students in the US.

The growth rate of students from India, however, decreased from 24.9 per cent in the previous academic year to 12 per cent in 2016-17. “I can’t speculate as to why the percentage fell,” Indian venture quoted Karl M. Adam, deputy cultural affairs Officer at the US Embassy in New Delhi as saying.

“The report tracks every student coming from abroad but it doesn’t include exactly why or why not the numbers fell,' he said.

'Calling 12 per cent a 'phenomenal increase', he added, “It is a high watermark for Indian students coming to the US.”

The original Trump administration travel ban, issued in January 2017, would have prevented the entry of individuals from seven countries, including Iran. After being blocked by federal courts, the administration issued a revised executive order in March 2017 that also would have prevented the entry of Iranians and individuals from five other countries (Iraq was removed from the list), this time permitting lawful permanent residents and current visa holders.

The travel ban reached the Supreme Court, which allowed parts of it to go into effect, pending a full hearing later this year. “The court will hear arguments on the ban — which denied visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries and paused admission of refugees from across the globe — and, in the meantime, the justices limited the directive’s impact on foreigners with clear ties to individuals, businesses or organizations in the United States,” reported Politico.

“The first Executive Order on its face barred the entry of all aliens from one of the listed countries, including Iran,” Daniel Pierce, an immigration attorney at Fragomen Worldwide earlier said in an interview.

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