UN-Truth

Daily Press Briefing
Gonzalo R. Gallegos, Acting Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
August 6, 2008

…
MR. GALLEGOS: Yes.
QUESTION: Do you have some (inaudible) additional information for revoking the visas of the three Gaza students? What is the information? What is the additional information? Were they told what it is? And if they aren’t aware, how can they reapply again for visas?

MR. GALLEGOS: Well, I spoke to that issue yesterday. The bottom line here is that we’re not going to get into the details about this. That’s between the United States Government and the individuals. In this case, in the case of prudential revocations, a prudential revocation is a revocation of which we acquire additional information that we believe that it is necessary to review before we allow individuals to enter the United States. We attempt to inform them as quickly as possible of the situation. They can reapply for another visa. I’m not sure of the timing of that. However, they do have that opportunity, so –

QUESTION: Have they been told why, in order to have the proper information to do that?
MR. GALLEGOS: My understanding is that there has been communications to them. I’m not sure exactly what they were told, but –

QUESTION: And also too, was this additional information, information provided by the Israelis, something that was missed in the initial review process?
MR. GALLEGOS: Well, that would fall under my, I’m not going to comment about details of the information, but thank you for asking.

QUESTION: Can I stay on this (inaudible)?
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. GALLEGOS: Sure.
QUESTION: Have these people – students’ scholarships themselves been revoked, or just the visas?
MR. GALLEGOS: I would have to see technically what is happening to the scholarship. If they cannot come to the United States then they cannot participate in the program, then the funding for the scholarships would –

QUESTION: I understand. But you said –
MR. GALLEGOS: – would not be spent this fiscal year.

QUESTION: – they can reapply for the visas. But can they reapply for the scholarships if they – if – I mean, do they need to reapply for the scholarship?
MR. GALLEGOS: I would have to check the process of that. The scholarships are basically there as money allotted during a fiscal year, X amount of dollars for said scholarships for a post any fiscal year. And I would have to see how they would manage that. But I don’t have that information right now.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the students who were given visas, are they potentially going to get re-reviewed? Are they at risk of further scrutiny, the ones who did get their visas, the other three?
MR. GALLEGOS: No, I would say that we’re always keeping an eye out for additional information that might come up on these individuals. However, I want to make note that, number one, we view this situation with concern. We want to make sure that we try and get as much information as we can, as soon as we can, about any individual who is requesting a visa to enter the United States. As such, we’re take – we’re reviewing the process by which this group had been reviewed and the information we received and when we received it. There are 17 Gazans right now in the United States studying on various programs – Fulbright, Youth Exchange, and then one other program, an International Visitor program, which is a short-term program – at this time. So, unfortunately, this comes down to individuals and information we receive about them. However, we see these programs as important. We continue to work with Gazans, and when possible we look forward to providing them this opportunity to come to the United States on these exchange programs.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:08 p.m.)
DPB # 138

Filed under: Academic studies and research, Gaza, Human Rights, International Law, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, USA