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opinion
Varying thoughts
on U.S. issues
Isolationism is not
the response America should take in light of the events this
past week. However, we must differentiate between our allies
and enemies not only across the world, but on our own soil as
well.
Don't get me wrong,
we would like support from other nations, but their support
is not necessarily needed. This is a war that, if forced to,
we as a nation can fight on our own.
One of the first
measures in what is likely to be a long battle against terrorism
is to rid America of those who stand against it within its
own borders.
A major concern
for the government and also many citizens of the United States
is the ease in which people around the world have the ability
to crack through our borders.
According to a
Dallas Morning News report in 1998, at least 40 percent of
non-citizens who stay in the United States do so by obtaining
a visa, promise to leave by a certain date, then never do.
The focus of American
immigration in the past few years has been placed at the doorstep
of the U.S.-Mexican border. Although this is a major problem,
it is impossible to focus on at this time. The terror we experience
now is through those wealthy enough to obtain visas in their
own nations to come to the United States.
In that same report
by the Dallas Morning News, a report that won the Eugene Katz
Award for excellence in the coverage of immigration in 1998,
the thought of terrorism through visas' was already prominent.
The report stated
that in 1997 more than 800 student visas were issued to citizens
of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria -- the U.S. designates
all of these countries as countries that support terrorism.
The visa policy
in America must be changed. Why are we allowing those from
other nations to come study in universities that many Americans
are left out of? Not only do we bring foreign nationals from
terrorist countries to our country, we teach them engineering
-- a field of study vital to American security.
Why would students
want to come to America and learn engineering? The same engineering
Americans have been using for years to the benefit of our
own nation. For each foreign national allowed into a university,
one less American-born citizen is allowed into the same university.
In the same thought, each foreign national engineer taught
in the United States means one less American engineer.
Do we not have
enough students in our own nation to supply campuses of higher
education with enough people to teach? Why are we turning
down American-born students when we have enough room for students
from other countries?
It is basic common
sense, teach your children in your own nation. If your nation
does not have the ability to teach its' children, tough.
We know every nation
has the ability to teach their students the ability to read
and write; yet they don't in fear of their own people rising
against them.
The student and
work visa policy in America is outdated and is no longer necessary
in light of these tragic events.
The U.S. government
does not have the capability to keep up with the onslaught
of foreign nationals. The government has a hard enough time
keeping up with people crossing our borders illegally.
We are the greatest
nation in the world and because of this we are forced to educate,
train and give work to the entire world. This is no longer
a viable option.
As a nation America
picked itself up from the bootstraps and fought for the freedoms
we have today. Hell, we fought for the freedoms many in the
world have today.
People around the
world must decide if their governments are doing an adequate
job to support the nations they live in. If they are unable
to educate their own students and even feed their own people,
they must be overthrown. Would Americans sit in poverty while
the King of our nation lived in luxury? Probably not.
I will leave you
with this statement by the World Islamic Front urging Jihad
(Holy War). "The ruling to kill the Americans and their
allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty
for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it
is possible to do it."
Dwight Flenniken
III is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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