CJP urges the Trump administration to drop proposed changes to journalist visas
JournalismPakistan.com | Published 3 months ago | CPJ News Alert/Photo: Reuters
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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Trump administration to drop proposed changes that would shorten the length of foreign media visas, known as “I visas,” for journalists working in the United States.
Currently, such visas can be extended up to five years based on employment and compliance with local law. Newly proposed restrictions would permit reporters entry into the U.S. for 240 days, or 90 days for Chinese nationals, with the possibility to renew their visas based on the length of their journalistic assignment.
“The shortened timeframe for I visa renewals creates a framework for possible editorial censorship in which the Trump administration can trade access for compliance in reporting.” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Foreign correspondents provide invaluable insights and curtailing their ability to stay in the United States will deprive audiences at home and abroad of important perspectives on American society and politics.”
The proposed changes would also impact international students with F visas and cultural exchange participants on J visas, who were held by many U.S. Agency for Global Media employees, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
CPJ has similarly documented how countries such as Russia and China have curtailed journalists’ abilities to obtain visas for foreign media as a means to restrict the free flow of information.
The Trump administration previously proposed restrictions to journalists’ visas in 2020 that ultimately did not go into effect, which included a move to impose visa restrictions on Chinese nationals as China tightened restrictions on foreign reporters.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
