INS subpoenas records of foreign college students

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Staff Writer

In its first step toward monitoring foreign students living in the state, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has subpoenaed the names, birth dates, places of birth, nationalities, addresses and academic status of all international students at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, Chaminade University and Hawai'i Pacific University.

The action is part of a sweeping plan to track the nation's approximately 600,000 foreign students since the FBI determined that at least two suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks were in the country on student visas.

The subpoenas were issued Oct. 26, said INS Director Don Radcliffe, with a compliance deadline of 10 working days. That means complete lists must be turned over by Friday. If extensions are needed for the universities to complete lists, they can be granted, he said.

"This will give us a handle on how many foreign students are in Hawai'i and at each school," said Radcliffe. "It should tell us how many are out-of-status and we can begin proceedings against those people."

The INS has no idea how many foreign students are in the state legally and how many are actually attending classes or have overstayed their visas. Radcliffe said student visas, known as I-20 visas, are issued for four-year academic programs.

"As long as the student is in good standing, there's no problem," Radcliffe said.

At HPU, Vice President Nancy Ellis said that because of privacy issues, a subpoena was necessary before the college could comply.

"Nobody's trying to withhold information," Ellis said. "We just need guidance as to what the rules are. I see (a subpoena) as a good solution — protection for everybody."

Ellis said the privacy of students' educational records is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also called the Buckley Amendment.

After Sept. 11, the act's protection of international students was suspended, she said. Privacy rights then were partially strengthened again, making the rules unclear as to what documentation must be provided.

"For us to respond to INS, or anyone else, there has to be a subpoena," she said.

Radcliffe, who believes that the subpoenas were not necessary, said the agency "decided to go that way so it's an official inquiry."

While legislation to overhaul the country's immigration system is pending in Congress, completion of a tracking system, with the computer software and personnel in place, could take up to two years.

As of yesterday, Chaminade was ready to hand over its list of 75 foreign students today, according to Peter Wolf, director of university relations for the 1,000-student campus.

A list of the approximately 1,300 foreign students at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa was still being compiled, according to Jim Manke, UH director of administrative services.

Hawai'i Pacific's vice president for administration, E. Rick Stepien, said a list of that college's foreign students was also being compiled. HPU has the highest number of foreign students in the state, with 1,800 or 21 percent of the student body.

According to unofficial tallies, Hawai'i has approximately 5,400 foreign students who bring in an estimated $125 million to the state in tuition each year. But the system of tracking them, much like other procedures across the country, is riddled with loopholes.

Once the INS receives the lists of names from the first three colleges, Radcliffe said, the agency will cross-check all students to make sure they are in the country legally. The agency will proceed with deportation of those who aren't.

The agency will then subpoena lists of foreign students from remaining Hawai'i campuses, including Brigham Young University-Hawai'i and the UH Community College system.

But Radcliffe doesn't know when that will happen. "It would depend on how fast we can get through the paperwork on these three," he said. "This is going to generate a tremendous amount of work so we're going to do it piecemeal."

There has been great concern that tracking and monitoring foreign students will frighten many away from studying in this country, hitting colleges hard both financially and in terms of the enrichment that international students offer.

But HPU's Ellis said recruiting so far has not seen negative effects.

"We're still business as usual," she said. "We have recruiters everywhere and there's still great interest everywhere in studying in the U.S. They like our educational system and they see it as value. They go back to their countries and are our greatest friends and allies, and take important positions in their countries.

"But it will be up to the student to decide if they think Hawai'i is a safe place in this new world order."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.