Senator Tom Cotton has introduced legislation to track foreign student and faculty visa holders to safeguard sensitive research at American universities.
The ‘Educational Visa Transparency Act’ expands the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) to include all student, faculty, and staff visa holders in U.S. higher education.
It would also allow other federal agencies to access this information. The introduction of this bill follows several concerning cases in which foreign nationals, including those from Communist China, attempted to smuggle dangerous biological materials into the United States under the guise of academic research.
“Unmonitored foreign nationals in the labs and research centers of our colleges and universities pose a grave national security threat. My bill will require tracking all student and faculty visas to ensure foreign nationals aren’t stealing valuable research,” said Senator Cotton.
They would go into the SEVIS database, and the DOJ would have access to allow monitoring.
It’s a good idea, but nothing gets passed thanks to the filibuster. Even without the filibuster, who knows what would be passed. And would anyone actually monitor it?
According to the Department of Education, approximately 3.1% of full-time faculty in the United States are foreign nationals, which translates to about 712,180 full-time faculty in fall 2021. This percentage reflects the significant presence of foreign-born faculty in higher education institutions across the country. That doesn’t even count part-time adjuncts.
Approximately 40,600 higher education faculty in the United States hold H-1B visas, which includes professors. This represents nearly 3 out of every 100 faculty members in higher education institutions.
Cotton’s bill would track the H-1B visa holders who are students or professors.
🚨 There are currently over 40,000 foreign professors with temporary visas in America. They’re unleashed on our college students.
Professor Sumith Gunasekera was at Ferris State University in Michigan. He’s an illegal alien and convicted sex offender from Sri Lanka.
Arrested by… pic.twitter.com/qcVBrufvs3
— NizNellie3 (@NizNellie3) March 28, 2026