SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) today urged Congress to endorse the proposed Border Commuter Student Act, which will allow Mexican and Canadian students living near the U.S. border to continue commuting to U.S. colleges and vocational schools each day to attend part-time classes.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) recently announced plans to begin enforcing a law already on the books, but not enforced, that would effectively prevent potentially thousands of these students already enrolled part-time from attending classes beginning in the fall semester. To counter this plan, bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to create a new non-immigrant classification for these part-time students.
""The Border Commuter Student Act is a smart, fair solution to this threat to no longer allow border residents who already legally cross our borders to shop and do business to also attend on a part-time basis at our higher education institutions before returning home at night,"" HACU President and CEO Antonio Flores said.
""Without this Act, these part-time students and the vocational schools, colleges and universities along our U.S. borders that enroll them will be facing undue hardships. Obviously, this will unfairly impact many of our member and partner higher education institutions, which serve the largest concentrations of Hispanic higher education students in the United States, especially those located along our southern and northern borders,"" Flores said. HACU represents more than 300 member and partner colleges and universities.
In letters today to Congress, Flores urged swift passage of the proposed Border Commuter Student Act, which was introduced in the Senate as S. 2742 by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and co-sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. Hutchison and Bingaman are co-chairs of the Senate Hispanic-Serving Institutions Coalition. HACU is the only nationally organized organization representing Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs, which have a student enrollment that is at least 25 percent Hispanic.
In the House of Representatives, Congressman Jim Kolbe of Arizona introduced an identical bill (HR 4967). Among the House bill's co-sponsors is Congressman Silvestre Reyes of Texas, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
""That these bills were introduced and are being supported by such distinguished, veteran leaders in Congress confirms the necessity for this very practical Act, which will so clearly benefit our U.S. higher education institutions and our multicultural, border communities,"" Flores observed.
""Against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the continuing threat of terrorism, the INS understandably is under pressure to bolster security along our U.S. borders. The proposed Border Commuter Student Act is a practical response for border students who commute to our classrooms for only a few hours a day and are otherwise legally visiting our border communities to continue to attend part-time college classes,"" Flores said.
U.S. colleges and universities located near borders with Mexico and Canada now can accept only full-time postsecondary students with F-1 student visas, which demand complex income verification and other requirements designed with full-time resident students in mind. U.S. higher education institutions have been allowing border students who do not intend to live in the United States while taking classes to enroll on a part-time basis without an F-1 visa. The INS has announced plans to enforce the F-1 visa rule for all students.
In response, The Border Commuter Student Act would create a new category for non-immigrant, part-time students who maintain their residency in their home countries to allow them to obtain F-3 (for college) or M-3 (for vocational school or nonacademic courses) visas to attend part-time classes at U.S. schools. ""This Act would make it much easier for these part-time students to continue attending classes without having to apply for the more complicated, and unnecessary, F-1 visas, which are now very difficult to obtain,"" Flores said. ""The Border Commuter Student Act makes more sense.""
For more information, contact HACU National Headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, at (210) 692-3805. Ext. 3214, or HACU's Government Affairs offices in Washington, D.C., at (202) 833-8361. Or visit www.hacu.net.