U.S. Visa Rejections Shattered Chinese Students’ Dreams. Now, They’re Fighting Back
Chen [Siyu] is one of a growing group of Chinese students barred from the United States based on 212(f), a clause in the decades-old Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that allows the U.S. president to identify aliens whose entry would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” In May 2020, then-President Donald Trump
signed a proclamation that invoked the clause to bar Chinese graduate students and postgraduate researchers with ties to an entity in China “that implements or supports China’s ‘military-civil fusion strategy.’” The proclamation exempts those working in fields that don’t contribute to that strategy—but apparently epidemiology is not among them. Now, Chen is one of 2500 activists—Chinese students with visa problems and their supporters—who are fighting back against what they see as an arbitrary and discriminatory policy. (
Science Magazine - July 27, 2021)