Dr. Ari, Barred Bolivian Professor,

Jumps Through First Legal Hoop

To Enter the U.S. and Teach

 

By Joshua B. Good

Monday, May 7, 2007

 

      For two years the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has barred Waskar Ari from returning to the United States.

      Even though he had a job waiting for him at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a professor, his student visa was revoked and his work visa wouldn’t go through. But his future employers, concerned over a pattern of foreign academics being denied entry into the U.S., filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. On Thursday (May 3, 2007) Homeland Security decided to stop their block of the visa rather than have their internal workings exposed in a federal court, according to an Associated Press story filed Monday (May 7, 2007).

      Ari, an expert in Bolivian Indian history, still has to re-apply for a work visa, according to the Associated Press.

      Ari told the Associated Press he did not know why he was denied entry, but speculated it was because he is an Aymara Indian, just as is Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales. Morales is critical of the U.S. and an ally of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. Ari said his political views differ from those of Morales. (See University of Nebraska-Lincoln's web site on Ari's ordeal here)

    “I came to Bolivia for a short family visit ... but since then the world has been upside down for me,” Ari told the Associated Press.

      The U.S. government hasn't given Ari supporters any solid answers. In a letter to the American Association of University Professors, U.S. State Department official Dale Rumbarger wrote this about Ari: “Although security must remain our first priority, we work every day to see that access to our country is not impeded for those whose presence we encourage and value.”

      Ari’s barring, and the exclusion of another academic, has civil libertarians in the U.S. concerned the Bush administration is censoring professors with views foreign to its own. Such a practice is called “ideological exclusion” and was common during the Cold War.

      Ari and the University of Nebraska are represented by American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Jameel Jaffer. Jaffer is also suing the U.S. government on behalf of Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss national barred from the U.S., though he was offered a post as a professor at the University of Notre Dame. Initially, the U.S. claimed it barred Ramadan because of his political views, claiming he “endorsed or espoused” terrorism, according to documents filed in his lawsuit. However, the U.S. State Department then sent Ramadan a letter on Sept. 19, 2006, saying he was barred from entering the U.S. because he donated money to a Palestinian relief organization with alleged ties to Hamas. Hamas is a leading political party in Palestine and considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

      Ramadan wrote that he did not believe the organization has or had ties to Hamas.

      “I would not have given money to ASP (Association de Secours Palestinien or Association for Palestinian Aid) if I had thought my money would be used for terrorism or any other illegal purpose. As I discussed in my earlier declaration, I have condemned terrorism at every opportunity,” Ramadan wrote.

      See Ramadan’s declaration here in PDF format.

      Ramada is now a professor at Oxford University in England.

 

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