Many colleges are reeling after Monday's announcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that international students whose university courses will be online only this fall must transfer to a school with in-person classes or leave the country.
Texas A&M University has seven experts in various fields who are available to provide analysis to media. They can be contacted directly for interviews.
Dudley L. Poston Jr., emeritus professor of sociology, has studied international migration for almost 50 years, which has taken him to more than 70 countries, including China, Taiwan and South Korea. Of Monday's ICE order, Poston said: “I’m very prejudiced in favor of international students. They provide an important diversity to our colleges. International students provide a lot of money to the U.S. economy. In 2018, there were just over 1 million international students in the U.S. (about 800,000 undergrad and grad college students). The international students contributed over $45 billion to our economy.”
Fatma Marouf, professor of law and director of Texas A&M Immigrant Rights Clinic, is an expert in immigration law, refugee law and international human rights law.
Nancy Plankey-Videla, professor of sociology, is an expert in immigration, specifically mixed-status families and deportation threat.
Luis Ponjuan, professor of educational administration and human resources development, studies social justice, including access and equity issues for LatinX students and faculty of color. He participated in the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence and has written higher education policy briefs for national education organizations such as the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Ponjuan is also the research director of the IDEAL (Investing in Diversity, Equity, Access and Learning) project at Texas A&M.
Ponjuan said our collective intellectual strength is galvanized with the richness of diverse minds who address and solve our shared complex issues. "Latinx international students contribute to our communities in Texas and beyond through innovation and collaboration. Our core values as a nation must be our compass to guide how we include, educate and empower our global learners," he said.
Allison Hopkins, professor of anthropology, is currently researching the relationship between immigration and health among Latinas living in the Southwestern U.S.
Felipe Hinojosa, professor of history, has teaching and research interests including Latina/o and Mexican American studies, American religion, social movements, gender and comparative race and ethnicity.
Sarah McNamara, professor of history, researches Latina/o, women and gender, immigration, and labor histories in the modern U.S.
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