When international students are ousted, we all lose
Suddenly revoking hundreds of international students’ U.S. visas here in Georgia and nationwide (AJC, April 11) is deeply harmful and must be resisted for everyone’s good.
As a Georgia Tech senior lecturer teaching English to international students, I am heartbroken by their widespread anxiety and, for some, severe losses. We all lose, too; their distinct cultural insights, talents and, yes, money (more than $1 billion in Georgia in 2024) will no longer come to the U.S. if this continues.
Civil rights groups and 19 state attorneys general have called the visa cancellations unlawful. In some cases, no cause was given; reasons have included non-harmful issues such as a pro-Palestinian social media post or a minor traffic violation.
Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, state Sen. Elena Parent and Reps. Saira Draper and Nikema Williams, please advocate for halting this federal action. Georgia university leaders, at least provide all your affected students with free support, including material, emotional and legal if requested.
MELISSA ABERIE-GRASSE, ATLANTA
Tariff anxiety? Grow up
Regarding “Tariff anxiety: Do you stock up or save?” (AJC, April 13) should everyone panic? That’s what the media endorses and expects us to do.
This is not Hoover time nor FDR time; it’s time to act like grown-ups. No one I know or you know has suffered from the tariff realignments. Save? Yes. Stock up? Yes, but no more than normal.
Those who may overreact need to turn off their TVs, close down social media connections and read a good book. And feel a bit safer that President Donald Trump realizes Iran needs to be shut down while deporting our enemies.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
Trump policies hurt minimum wage workers
Over the past 70 years, we have benefited from a global economy. We have products that are not available in the USA. We have protections in the workplace and social protections. We also have global corporations that have grown by buying up family businesses and farms. These corporations have moved production to other countries to reduce costs and enhance profit. A side benefit is that more countries have jobs that support their citizens and reduce the need for economic migration.
We also have created an inequity where a CEO can demand a $50 billion income, and a worker on minimum wage earns $15,600. Do the math, the CEO wants 3,205,172 times what the wage earner gets. That is the extreme, but many CEOs earn as much as $50 million, which is only 3,205 times the minimum wage earner.
We have an administration that is made up of billionaires who have no idea what a family with two wage earners making a minimum wage must do to survive. The administration is working to cut the social programs that are the only protections that help low-wage earners survive day to day.
L.M. TURPIN, ROSWELL
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