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This is a thread about the H-1B/Visa crisis, that so many tens of 1000s of people have been thrown into for no reason by @realDonaldTrump /1
I'm a first generation student, and a professor of History for the past 14 years. I'm launching a channel on Youtube about how academia really works. /2
I'm going to be looking back over my career thus far, both in grad school and in my job, and trying to share with you some of the mistakes that I've made along the way (and there have been many) along with things I've learned that have helped a great deal. /3
I was hoping on launching this channel with a series of kind of practical how-to videos, and those will be coming. But, instead, sometime urgent takes priority. /4
As many of you have undoubtedly seen, Donald Trump has just signed an executive order which places a freeze on the H-1B worker visa. /5
This will have profound effects on hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, many of whom have already been offered and accepted a position in the United States. /6
This doesn't just affect H-1B visas: there's a variety of other visas that are affected as well, and this has ramifications across the economy and across the workforce. /7
I'm going to speak specifically about the area that I know best: universities or higher education, and what i can say is: this executive order is malicious and pointless. /8
It is simply trying to score points with a hate-filled base of the current president, and will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on increasing the employment of citizens of the United States. /9
SIGN THE PETITION: https://forms.gle/b7ZaGSaYbX5gto5V7 /10
There are people right now who are sitting at home, who've gone through the application process to land a position within one or another university or college in the US. /11
These searches took place roughly a year ago. They were profoundly rigorous. These candidates rose to the top of large applicant pools and they landed the position. /12
And I will tell you as someone who's gone through that a few different times, that is one of the most joyous moments that one experiences: getting that call saying “We want you to join our community." /13
SIGN THE PETITION: https://forms.gle/b7ZaGSaYbX5gto5V7 /14
Many of them have told their landlords that they're moving out. If they have children, they have notified their daycare. They've informed their *own kids* (and as someone who moved as a child many times, I know this is a big deal for a family). /15
Then this executive order throws all of that into chaos, for NOTHING. /16
There are people out there--especially who are finishing grad school—who will have absolutely no income until their position starts in the United States (positions they have *earned*). /17
Until then, they cannot pull a salary. They cannot feed themselves. They cannot pay their rent. They cannot feed their family. /18
And that job doesn’t go to some American First, Trump-cultist. The job itself disappears, and the person who has gone through an incredibly rigorous process is placed in economic turmoil for NOTHING. /19
It doesn't get you a job. It doesn't get me a job. It simply places someone in a world of hurt to fulfill a malicious, pointless, and sadistic executive order. /20
SIGN THE PETITION: https://forms.gle/b7ZaGSaYbX5gto5V7 /21
We need to call upon our universities, colleges, and learned societies IMMEDIATELY to demand that this administration reverse this decision. /22
Not only for the thousands of people within academia who are going to be suffering because of this, but also for the tens and hundreds of thousands of people in other lines of work. /23
SIGN THE PETITION: https://forms.gle/b7ZaGSaYbX5gto5V7 /24
Here is a video explaining more: /END
