October 27, 2006
Ms. Julie Furuta-Toy
Director, Office of Diplomatic and Public Liaison
Visa Services
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520
Mr. Paul M. Morris
Executive Director, Admissibility Requirements and Migration Control
Office of Field Operations
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20229
Dear Ms. Furuta-Toy and Mr. Morris:
We have corresponded with your offices previously with regard to decisions of the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to keep foreign academics from entering this country for legitimate academic reasons. Our writing again is prompted by the decision of government officials to deny entry into the United States of Professor Adam Habib, a citizen of South Africa, upon his arrival at JFK international airport on October 21. Professor Habib is an officer of the South African Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and was a member of an HSRC delegation scheduled to meet with donor institutions in this country, among them the Social Science Research Council, Columbia University, the National Institutes of Health, and the World Bank.
Before October 21, Professor Habib had been allowed entry into the United States nearly two dozen times since obtaining a Ph.D. in political science from the City University of New York, including some half-dozen visits since September 11, 2001. He reports that he was given no reason for the decision. Professor Habib has written to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office seeking an explanation for a decision that on its face, like similar decisions which occasioned our earlier letters to you, raises troubling implications for academic freedom (a copy of his letter is enclosed for your convenience). In his letter, Professor Habib points out that he has accepted an invitation to participate in a 2007 meeting sponsored by the American Sociological Association to be held in New York City. We urge that the government facilitate, rather than hinder, Professor Habib’s entering the United States to attend this meeting, much as we urge it to remove barriers to the visits of other foreign scholars to this country.
Sincerely,
Roger W. Bowen
General Secretary
American Association of University Professors
cc: Professor Adam Habib