Thursday, September 20, 2007
FAMED MUSICOLOGIST'S VISA REVOKED WITH NO EXPLANATION
The NY Times is reporting on the revocation of the visa of Nalini Ghuman, a world renown musicologist specializing in the works of Edward Elgar. Ms. Ghuman, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, California had her H-1B visa was revoked last year upon her returning the country to participate in New York in the Bard Music Festival featuring Elgar's work.
The case is interesting because there is no known reason for the trouble and attempts to get to the bottom of it have proven fruitless. The only thing known is that her visa was revoked by the State Department:
After a year of letters and inquiries, Ms. Ghuman and her Mills College lawyer have been unable to find out why her residency visa was suddenly revoked, or whether she was on some security watch list. Nor does she know whether her application for a new visa, pending since last October, is being stymied by the shadow of the same unspecified problem or mistake.
Bard College president Leon Bottstein expressed his institution's frustration:
This is an example of the xenophobia, incompetence, stupidity and then bureaucratic intransigence that we are up against. What is at stake is America’s pre-eminence as a place of scholarship.
Ms. Ghuman's lawyer released to the NY Times an account of her experience with CBP:
In a written account of the next eight hours that she prepared for her lawyer, Ms. Ghuman said that officers tore up her H-1B visa, which was valid through May 2008, defaced her British passport, and seemed suspicious of everything from her music cassettes to the fact that she had listed Welsh as a language she speaks. A redacted government report about the episode obtained by her lawyer under the Freedom of Information Act erroneously described her as “Hispanic.”
Held incommunicado in a room in the airport, she was groped during a body search, she said, and was warned that if she moved, she would be considered to be attacking her armed female searcher. After questioning her for hours, the officers told her that she had been ruled inadmissible, she said, and threatened to transfer her to a detention center in Santa Clara, Calif., unless she left on a flight to London that night.
Outside, Mr. Flight [Ms. Ghuman's American fiance] made frantic calls for help. He said the British Consulate tried to get through to the immigration officials in charge, to no avail. And Ms. Ghuman said her demands to speak to the British consul were rebuffed.
“They told me I was nobody, I was nowhere and I had no rights,” she said. “For the first time, I understood what the deprivation of liberty means.”
# posted by Greg Siskind @ 7:27 PM
Comments:
Post a Comment
XML newsfeed
archives
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
July 2011
August 2011
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
October 2012
November 2012
January 2013
July 2013
September 2013
December 2013
January 2014
April 2014
May 2014
July 2014
Ms. Ghuman, a professor at Mills College in Oakland, California had her H-1B visa was revoked last year upon her returning the country to participate in New York in the Bard Music Festival featuring Elgar's work.
The case is interesting because there is no known reason for the trouble and attempts to get to the bottom of it have proven fruitless. The only thing known is that her visa was revoked by the State Department:
After a year of letters and inquiries, Ms. Ghuman and her Mills College lawyer have been unable to find out why her residency visa was suddenly revoked, or whether she was on some security watch list. Nor does she know whether her application for a new visa, pending since last October, is being stymied by the shadow of the same unspecified problem or mistake.
Bard College president Leon Bottstein expressed his institution's frustration:
This is an example of the xenophobia, incompetence, stupidity and then bureaucratic intransigence that we are up against. What is at stake is America’s pre-eminence as a place of scholarship.
Ms. Ghuman's lawyer released to the NY Times an account of her experience with CBP:
In a written account of the next eight hours that she prepared for her lawyer, Ms. Ghuman said that officers tore up her H-1B visa, which was valid through May 2008, defaced her British passport, and seemed suspicious of everything from her music cassettes to the fact that she had listed Welsh as a language she speaks. A redacted government report about the episode obtained by her lawyer under the Freedom of Information Act erroneously described her as “Hispanic.”
Held incommunicado in a room in the airport, she was groped during a body search, she said, and was warned that if she moved, she would be considered to be attacking her armed female searcher. After questioning her for hours, the officers told her that she had been ruled inadmissible, she said, and threatened to transfer her to a detention center in Santa Clara, Calif., unless she left on a flight to London that night.Outside, Mr. Flight [Ms. Ghuman's American fiance] made frantic calls for help. He said the British Consulate tried to get through to the immigration officials in charge, to no avail. And Ms. Ghuman said her demands to speak to the British consul were rebuffed.
“They told me I was nobody, I was nowhere and I had no rights,” she said. “For the first time, I understood what the deprivation of liberty means.”
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
July 2011
August 2011
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
October 2012
November 2012
January 2013
July 2013
September 2013
December 2013
January 2014
April 2014
May 2014
July 2014