AFPC-USA Calls on DHS to Withdraw New Visa Restrictions Targeting International Journalists
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA) urgently calls on the federal government to withdraw new proposed regulations on visas for foreign media based in the United States that will significantly harm U.S. leadership on free speech, a free press, and freedom of expression. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed rules are under review for a comment period this month and would, if implemented, impose burdensome barriers on foreign correspondents based in the U.S and have a chilling effect on their ability to report here independently without fear of retaliation. The proposed regulations set a fixed time limit on visas that could not only damage free expression for the foreign press based here but also American interests--if they prompt retaliation from foreign governments that might decide to similarly impose undue restrictions on American correspondents living abroad right now.
This would be a disaster for America’s standing and leadership in the world, as well as a harmful blow to the rights enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The new rules include an onerous regulation to change the status of the I Visa that gives foreign correspondents from other nations a non-immigrant status to live and report on the American scene as they choose for the duration of their stay. The regulation would limit new visas to a 240-day stay in the country and allow the reporters and media workers to reapply for a continuation of their visa after those eight months are up. DHS claims without evidence that the new visa requirements are needed for dealing with unspecified “safety risks” and for “curbing visa abuse and increasing the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to properly vet and oversee these individuals.” The proposed DHS rules, if finalized, also would further restrict student (F) visas and exchange (J) visas from a “duration of status” classification to a limited duration status.
The AFPC-USA speaks for thousands of international print, broadcast, cable and digital outlets that dispatch correspondents to live and work in the U.S. in seeking to have DHS scrap these new rules. If adopted, the proposed visa requirements would create unnecessary administrative burdens and hamper the ability of journalists to plan long-term reporting projects, get year-long leases on apartments, enroll their children in schools, and, importantly, report freely on events in America.
These correspondents traveling to the United States to cover economics, politics, culture and other global issues of interest to their audiences back home would be much more wary of reporting on anything that might be critical of the American administration for fear of not having their visas renewed. DHS says the new fixed period visas would allow the agency to conduct “regular assessments” of visa holders and “proper oversight” of the visas--as well as help in “reducing the number of individuals here on visas.” For foreign correspondents based in the U.S., this is a chilling prospect opening them up to possible eviction, legal ramifications and arrest, and one all too familiar these days. But it is against the fundamental values, interests and support in America historically for a free press. It would further damage our reputation and leadership abroad.
The AFPC-USA believes in education as the vehicle of advancing, expanding and reinforcing the foreign journalists' position in America. With representation in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., the AFPC-USA, since its establishment, is committed to providing educational resources, access to a network of experts, advocacy for free expression, recognizing professional excellence and awarding grants and scholarships to foreign journalists who work in the U.S., as well as U.S. journalists who work in foreign news outlets and bureaus based here and report on American issues and perspective for overseas audiences
The AFPC-USA also highlights its commitment to pursuing a stable and robust collaboration with the Foreign Press Centers of the State Department in the U.S. It acknowledges the U.S. government’s past dedication to traditionally supporting and helping foreign journalists over the years through the vital service the Foreign Press Centers of the State Department provides to our foreign correspondents' community. We support the mission of the State Department that the Foreign Press Centers serve to deepen “global understanding of U.S. policy, society, culture, and values through engagement with foreign media.”
Advocating for international correspondents and foreign media based in the U.S., the AFPC-USA is submitting this statement as its official comments, recommendations and proposals regarding the recent DHS policy proposal. The DHS proposal reflects dramatic changes in the structure and prerequisites for the foreign press members to obtain an I media visa and to continue providing their service of informing the global audiences as correspondents from America. The AFC-USA strongly and respectfully urges DHS to reject these arbitrary and onerous new rules:
The AFPC-USA acknowledges and fully respects the right of the U.S. government to protect its national security, adjust its immigration laws to what’s in the interest of the American citizen and combat any abuse of immigration laws in any visa category. However, as far as professional, working and credentialed foreign correspondents are concerned, the I visa classification for representatives of foreign information media does not offer them any right to work in the U.S. except for the media organizations of the country that sponsors them. Therefore, working foreign journalists in the U.S. do not compete with Americans for jobs. Unless they belong to a particular category of extraordinary, talented people, it’s almost impossible for foreign correspondents to convert into green card holders. Neither can foreign correspondents be considered a national threat to U.S. security. Any single foreign journalist granted an I visa must provide detailed documentation to the U.S. embassy in their country of origin to prove their status as a professional journalist.
The AFPC-USA also acknowledges the alleged possibility of potential abuse of I visas but doubts the scope, seriousness and depth of the suspected cases. It is our understanding that a significant aspect of the alleged problem is that the U.S. government has failed to adopt and apply a mechanism of making sure that those granted I visas for a duration of years continue to work as foreign journalists during the full duration of their visas for the media organizations that initially sponsored them for those visas. It is also our understanding that the Foreign Press Centers of the State Department--despite the enormous efforts of their officers to serve our foreign correspondents’ community--lack resources to efficiently and effectively update their records of foreign journalists who may not continue to work for the media organizations that initially sponsored their I visas.
Finally, if there is abuse demonstrated by the U.S. government in some of these cases, the proposed new regulations are not likely to address it. This new proposal seems aimed more at dismantling the representation of foreign media in America and less at building a new, strong, transparent and secure relationship with foreign media representatives in the U.S. Setting a short fixed time limit in the new DHS’s policy proposal appears to set up a new U.S. framework to help reduce or eliminate the number of foreign press representatives who work in the country and obstruct foreign media organizations from having a more permanent representation in America. Thus, the AFPC-USA considers this policy provision hostile to the interests of the members of our foreign correspondents' community, detrimental to their work and suspicious in terms of the potential motives behind it, which seem unprecedented and needlessly disruptive to their journalistic freedom, assignments and mission.
Given the above
Therefore, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA) protests loudly against this DHS policy proposal, and we call on the DHS and the State Department to reject it as it does not serve the interests of the United States nor honor the press freedoms which our government has always previously championed.
To sum up, a short, fixed-length of stay visa would add excessive administrative burdens and uncertainty for visiting non-immigrant foreign journalists that could distract them from doing their core work here. Given the threat of a visa denial hanging over their heads, it would chill the free speech of journalists who may worry their visa could be revoked by a bureaucrat who didn’t like what they wrote, aired or reported. That is un-American and could lead to self-censorship among the foreign press community here. Worse, the dire consequences of that curtailing of free speech and a free press would harm America’s standing in the world and could lead to retaliation by friends and adversaries in their treatment of American correspondents when they seek visas to visit, live and report in those other countries. The impact of a diminishing number of independent and free foreign correspondents in the U.S., in turn, is sure to create a news vacuum that inevitably will be filled by the false reporting, state media propaganda and disinformation of our adversaries.
The AFPC-USA would be happy to work with DHS to advise on legitimate new regulations, if they are legal and logical, but this new proposal is widely viewed by foreign correspondents and their American colleagues as an undue attack on the international press.
This is tragic for journalists and hurtful to U.S. standing and America’s reputation. In the view of the AFPC-USA, these new visa rules are unnecessary, unwarranted and against America’s interests. They should be withdrawn to allow law-abiding, independent foreign journalists to tell America’s story without fear or favor to the world.
The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States has had a warm and cordial relationship with the DHS and the State Department. We would like to offer our expertise for further deliberations on the new proposal as it relates to the I visa as needed.
For more information about the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States and our work supporting international journalists, please visit www.foreignpresscorrespondents.org.
