Int’l student here. I’m seeing many petitions arguing that int’l students should be protected because they contributed $41 billion to the economy in 2018-2019. Though coming from good intentions, this kind of rhetoric is harmful. 1/n

Undocumented & FLI students have said it before, but their words bear repeating: when we make economic contributions a metric for rights/citizenship, we privilege white/NBPOC & wealthy int’l students with access to higher education and career resources. 2/n

In doing so, we implicitly cast temporary (J-1, H2-A, etc.) and undocumented migrant workers as somehow less deserving of protection just because they “don't contribute as much to the economy”. That is fucked up. 3/n

There are ways to advocate without presenting ourselves as exceptional. This is an opportunity to build coalition with our FLI, immigrant, & undocumented peers who, out of necessity, have long since fought against ICE and— 4/n

— critiqued the U.S. tiered immigration system for its racialized division of labor (“skilled” vs “unskilled”) that accumulates profit for the U.S.’ elite classes. 5/n

Int’l students deserve protection not because of our alleged exceptional economic potential, but because everyone, without exception/qualification, deserves to be safe, healthy, and housed in a pandemic. 6/n

It is all of us or none! If you are going hard for int’l students, please also go hard for immigrants in detention centers, immigrants on temporary work visas too. (7/n)

because this thread is getting a lot of attention: two Black low-income students at my college need financial support ASAP. if you have the means, please donate at http://tinyurl.com/help2out  or Venmo “BlackReliefFund”