Shaheen Speaks on the Impact of the New Administration on International Students
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Professor Dr. Musbah Shaheen spoke in a recent National Public Radio (NPR) news segment covering international student travel over the holidays as President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20th.
The University of Massachusetts is one of several institutions that recommend international students with plans of traveling home for the long winter break return to the United States before the inauguration.
Shaheen expressed to NPR that the possibility of travel restriction is bringing him a sense of deja vu. He is reminded of his time as a senior at Vanderbilt University when Trump was first elected. Trump’s 2017 executive order restricting travel to the U.S. included Shaheen’s home country of Syria.
“It made it essentially impossible for me to leave after my degree because I knew I couldn’t come back for the master’s,” shared Shaheen, “you’re oceans away from what you know, and you’re homesick, and you were looking forward to going back for a break time, and that is not going to happen.”
Listen to the rest of the NPR segment.