Dear Matt,
The president released a draft so-called “skinny” budget for fiscal year 2026 today and it proposes cutting funding for State Department Educational and Cultural Exchanges by 93 percent. The rationale given cites Inspector General reports that document “insufficient monitoring for fraud and inefficient, wasteful programming at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.” Stay tuned for more next week on how we can send a strong and resounding message that this is absolutely not the case! A more detailed budget proposal is still to come from the White House and may include cuts to the Department of Education’s Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs. There is no reference to these programs in the “skinny” version. More information has been put forth by the Alliance for International Exchange, of which NAFSA is a member.
Regarding the legal jeopardy international students and scholars are engulfed in, recall that last Friday, a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney said in court: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain active or shall be reactivated if not currently active.” While this was good news and welcome relief for the thousand or so student-plaintiffs, many questions remain. As of this writing, no official policy has been released from ICE. A document introduced by a government attorney in the Arizona case challenging SEVIS record terminations appears to be a draft framework, but it should NOT be construed as official policy. My colleague Steve Springer and I offered some analysis in a new NAFSA blog post.
The topic of SEVIS record terminations and restorations was also explored in a LinkedIn live discussion hosted earlier today by NAFSA CEO, Fanta Aw and featuring expert staff from NAFSA and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
I’m happy to report that 35 senators joined U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) in a letter to leaders of the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, and ICE seeking clarity on the number and nature of the SEVIS record terminations and visa revocations, as well as a release of new guidance driving these actions. If your senators were among those who signed, please use our system to send (and customize) a message of appreciation. More on that below. We will need sustained involvement by Congress as this issue evolves.
We also learned that the Department of State (DOS) has restored and reconfigured its webpage that provides estimates of visa appointment wait times. Changes include referencing “next available appointment” rather than “wait time” for F, M, and J visas, and calculating the wait time in months, rather than days. For the “Interview Required (F,M,J)” column, DOS confirmed that the “N/A” notation indicates a post does not provide that service. More information is available on NAFSA’s website.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:
Stay strong!
Best,
Erica
Erica Stewart
Senior Director, Advocacy & Strategic Communications
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
