WICHITA, Kan. -- Every month a few international students in Kansasare jailed for minor visa violati...

1. Kansas' international students jailed for minor visa
violations.
WICHITA, Kan. -- Every month a few international students in Kansas
are jailed for minor visa violations, a Wichita-area immigration lawyer
says.
In the post-Sept. 11 world, many of those
detained students are
from countries not directly linked to the
Sept. 11 terrorists, said
lawyer Suzanne Gladney. And she said
they're being detained for
such violations as not taking enough course hours or not attending the
college they listed in immigration documents.
In the past two weeks, Gladney has talked to six international
students from Wichita State University and Butler County Community
College who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents. She said the six
students jailed in the past two weeks come from
countries including Colombia, Kenya, Ghana and Zambia, all outside the
Middle East.

2. "It seems like we have overreacted in a
very broad way,"
she said.
The result, Gladney said, could be a
"chilling effect" on
international students coming to the
United States.
More specifically, it hurts Kansas, Gladney said. She said the
higher tuition international students pay is especially important at a
time when state budgets are being cut.
At Wichita State, where international students make up 10 percent
of the student body, they pay around four times the tuition rate that
Kansans pay, said Ron Kopita, vice president for student affairs.
Regional INS officials could not be reached for comment. In the
past, they have said they could not discuss any enforcement stemming
from the Sept. 11 attacks. They have defended their detentions, saying
detainees get to contact a lawyer.
Asked whether he thought INS enforcement had become too strict,
Wichita State President Donald Beggs said the school's students
have no choice but to abide by the immigration rules.

3. "INS is under the gun--I understand that," he said.
Cynthia Wilson, an international-student adviser at Butler County
Community College, confirmed that two nursing students--one from Kenya,
the other from Colombia--had been jailed by the INS. She didn't
know why they had been detained.
Between jail time, cash bonds and possible deportation, detained
students pay a heavy price, Gladney said.
"None of these kids stayed in jail less than three or four
days," she said--often in less-crowded jails outside Wichita.
To get out of jail, Gladney said, they must raise cash bonds of
around $3,000 or more. The money can be refunded if the student appears
in immigration administrative court as required
Those who post a bond can ask a judge for permission to leave the
country voluntarily, allowing them to re-apply for re-entry. Those who
can't pay a bond are deported and can't return for at least 10
years, Gladney said.