Friday, Sept. 19, San Francisco International Airport.
An Emirates flight due for Dubai had been delayed for 3 hours with all crew and passengers aboard.
Amid anxious phone calls, some passengers reluctantly deplaned, slowly dragging their carry-on. On the same night, the same tension seized many international travellers — aliens, or non-citizens in the U.S. Immigration system. Coming from the Latin adjective aliēnus, which means of another, the word ‘alien’ has been reimagined through sci-fi, and now veils non-citizens with an outcast identity.
Sept. 19 and the two following days were an emotional rollercoaster for noncitizens, specifically those holding an H-1B Visa, which temporarily permits foreign workers employment in the U.S. for ‘specialty occupations’. In President Trump’s Executive Order “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers,” signed on Sept. 19, the H-1B program was amended to require a $100,000 fee upon visa holders’ entry into the United States starting at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 21, 2025. Unclear about its scope of impact, many corporations pressed their employees to remain in the United States or return as soon as possible. The policy proclamation rocked the world of H-1B holders, including the aforementioned Emirates passengers. Many others booked the earliest flight available and waved goodbye to family with the conviction of not being able to return any time soon. After a series of mixed signals from whistleblowers, they ended up finding their day-long travels meaningless: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that current H-1B visa holders would not be affected by the change on Sept. 20. In 1946, first-generation Filipino American, Carlos Bulosan, eulogized America in his semi-autobiographical novel as an “unfinished ideal in which everyone must invest (…) time and energy.” For this generation of immigrants, Bulosan’s heartfelt belief dims under the disillusioning reality.
With 13% of Wellesley’s population being international, a sizable number of our community feel dependent on every news snippet on immigration policies. News, tax forms and job applications persistently remind non-citizens of being an alien in this country. In this ideologically disorienting time, being a non-citizen adds additional layers of uncertainty and insecurity. Despite being a primary U.S. address for many, Wellesley College has yet to understand and embrace this experience. Upon asking around, I found that many domestic students have not been exposed to news of the H-1B policy. There seems to be a general lack of awareness surrounding issues of immigration policy and their gravity, but everyone should care about immigration, whether or not you are an alien.
Individuals are intimidated by conversations surrounding immigration in the public sphere. This is especially the case for international students, who have to be extra vulnerable in sharing something so personal. Together, Tana and Jill, International Student and Scholar Advisors at Slater International Center, held 1000+ one-on-one appointments over the past year, where they relentlessly provided case-by-case assistance for community members to maintain legal status in response to rapidly changing policies. They also shared the low student turnout rate at Slater communiTea, an inclusive and intimate space to share immigration concerns and other personal issues. Despite Slater’s intentional programming, international students’ need for legal counsel hasn’t been translated to trust and support on a community level. Community of human care should always be the safety net one can return to from procedures that insist on dehumanizing and disempowering us.
Wellesley College must become a safe and open place for sharing, being vulnerable and bringing more people in. Instead of individual moral obligations, I’d like to address the communal responsibility across our campus. It is not the duty of Slater or any commissioned group to instrumentalize a formula for everyone. The complexities of people’s experiences, backgrounds and identities call for each of us to step into existing programs and, in addition to co-creating the environment necessary for this moment. Opening ourselves up in this act of community-building could look different for different people: giving yourself capacity for real emotions when receiving or asking the question “how’s it been,” sharing or checking in with friends about their thoughts on immigration in the past year or maybe discussing this opinion piece if you found it of any significance!
This article is intended for everyone, regardless of nationality, background or role at Wellesley. Echoing the biggest lesson I took away from Tana Ruegamer, the director of Slater, was that “Citizenship is meaningless in these conversations.” We don’t want to echo the tribal binary between “us” and “them,” “deprived” and “privileged,” when the goal is community-building against divisive systems. We all need to be in the spotlight to utilize and build brave spaces, initiate the conversations and learn from one another’s journeys.
Contact the editors responsible for this article: Caitlin Donovan, Avery Finley
