Irish students are 'collateral damage' in Trump's higher education battle, immigration lawyer says

Vivienne Clarke

Irish students are collateral damage in US President Donald Trump’s “battle with higher education”, an American immigration lawyer has said.

Boston-based John Foley told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that there had been a fall off in Irish students going to the US to study, and he was advising parents to send their children to Canada.

“The US administration is going to change the rules down the road, because while they've given the consular officers more responsibility, they haven't added more consular officers, so they've put more pressure on the consulate officers.

"And it's going to mean the whole system is slowed, because it's gonna take longer for the interviews to take place, so the line's gonna get longer, and it's gonna mean fewer students coming into the United States, and that's part of Mr. Trump's battle with higher education.

"The fact that Irish students are collateral damage, that doesn't matter to Mr. Trump.

“Why would you want to come to the United States now when just getting into the country is as difficult as they're making it? I get calls from Irish parents, and I say to them, you know, they have great colleges in Canada as well, but Mr. Trump doesn't care about that.

"He really, you know, he's setting his own agenda, and the United State is in a psychological civil war with itself. This is Trump versus higher education, and Irish students are going to be collateral damage.”

When asked what his advice to Irish students seeking entry to the US, Mr Foley said to “be prepared for what you know is going to happen".

"You have to give them your social media information. They're going to check it out. Before you get there, clean it up. Delete things that you know they're going to have a problem with.

“If they ask you if you changed or you deleted stuff, tell them the truth. Tell them you prepared for the interview and you deleted silly stuff and stupid stuff that was on your phone, and just tell the truth, you know, America is still great but we are a country that is in trouble. We are at war with ourselves.

“You've got to tell them the truth. If they catch you in a lie, you know, you'll be barred. So you've gotta tell them the truth, but you've also gotta be prepared when you go in there. And there's a lot of ways you can prepare.”

Mr Foley warned that the entire process of getting into the US was now taking longer. In the past the interview at Dublin or Shannon airport would take “a couple of minutes”. Paperwork would be reviewed, a few questions would be asked “and it would be over.”

“Now they're going to take a little bit more time and they're gonna look at some of your social media. But the Consular Officers don't really have time to go back over five years' worth of text messages from a 14 year old boy, to a 14-year-old girl, five years ago.”