Federal immigration officials have terminated the visas of dozens of international students attending Wisconsin universities, and immigration attorney Amanda Gennerman said the reasons for the terminations are unclear. As Republican lawmakers in Congress fashion a federal budget that cuts taxes and reduces spending, many in Wisconsin are worried about cuts to Medicaid — Bobby Peterson of ABC for Health said one in five Wisconsinites are on some form of Medicaid.
 

Amanda Gennerman
Immigration attorney, Pines Bach

• More than 50 international students at UW-Madison, other UW system campuses, Concordia and Marquette universities have had their visas revoked by the federal government. UW-Madison has stated that these revocations, at least on its campus, are not believed to be in response to political activity by the international students. Gennerman said the affected students get an email alerting them to the terminations, but often not the reason. These notifications order the students to leave the country, who are now living in fear.
• Gennerman: “I think our communities are in crisis right now. I think that people are very afraid. When we’re watching people in Boston being taken off the street by half-masked officers, I don’t know how you don’t look over your shoulder and how you worry about what’s coming next or am I supposed to be here, am I not. So I do believe that the community is very much afraid for all of those reasons, rightfully so.”

Bobby Peterson
Executive director, ABC for Health

• Medicaid is a federal health care program that covers people with disabilities, children and parents on BadgerCare Plus, and long-term care for seniors. Advocates for people on Medicaid have concerns the program could see funding cuts as Republicans in Congress tries to effect President Donald Trump’s agenda. ABC for Health is a nonprofit law firm that helps people navigate the health care system and is tracking the congressional action. Peterson said cuts have not yet been enacted and that Trump has said he does not want to reduce benefits. However, changes to eligibility and work requirements could effectively remove people from the program.
• Peterson: “They could put in work requirements for certain Medicaid programs, and it’s just the process — the paperwork — getting through it. People that may be ill, may not be able to work — just going through that process deters people, knocks them off to the side. They lose coverage, and they’re not getting important health care and coverage that they need, with the consequence of running up medical bills and medical debt, which is something that we really want to try and avoid.”

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations

• Serving in the Biden administration as the 31st United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Thomas-Greenfield is an alumnus of UW-Madison, having earned an MPA degree at the university in 1975 and was later honored with an honorary doctorate of law in 2018. She spoke at the La Follette School of Public Affairs about “The Art of Negotiation,” and in a subsequent conversation with “Here & Now,” discussed how the principles of diplomacy can be applied to the divisions of partisan politics in America.
• Thomas-Greenfield: “We all have our different views about immigration, about abortions, about gender and the LGBT, but to fight about those issues in the halls of our Congress and the halls of our state legislatures really don’t provide solutions for ordinary citizens who want to see our government work and they want to see the government work for them. What they’re seeing now is that the government is not working for them. And what I would say to them is they have to raise their voices to make sure that the politicians that they voted for represent their views, but also represent the interest of the country.”

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