Last week, a 21-year-old Bangladeshi student named Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis tried to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Up until his arrest, Nafis was a student at ASA College in Manhattan. And prior to that, he was studying cybersecurity at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau. How did he get from Bangladesh to Missouri to New York? Who was responsible for screening him? And, more broadly, how are student visas regulated and tracked?
George Trahanis is the international student advisor at ASA College in Manhattan. He is the primary designated school official working with the Department of Homeland Security to help students apply for and maintain status of visas.
Barmak Nassirian is an independent consultant and former associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers in Washington.
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!