FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Silver Spring, Maryland
January 31, 2017

Below is the Board of Directors statement on the executive order to suspend visas to nationals from seven countries. This statement has also been released through all social media outlets. The ASIS&T Board is working with SIGs and staff to continue to strengthen our position with additional statements and activities to illustrate how new policies are effecting the Information Science field. The Board remains vigilant to respond to any further developing issues that affect the Information Science field or its membership.
  ASIS&T Opposes Executive Order to Suspend Visa to Nationals from Seven Countries

The Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) expresses deep concerns over President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order requiring a 90-day suspension of visas to nationals of seven nations. ASIS&T joins countless organizations in urging the lifting of the visa suspension.
For 80 years, ASIS&T has been leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information, the free flow of ideas, and ethical practices of information provision for the benefit of humankind. Its members include thousands of researchers, developers, practitioners, students, and professors in the field of information science and technology of which a large number are citizens of over 50 countries around the world. Collectively, ASIS&T members share and uphold the values of open exchange of ideas as well as the freedom of thought, expression and movement that are central to any functioning society. 
The United States has long benefitted from the scientific, cultural, and economic contributions of international students and scholars. The Information Science field has been strengthened by the presence of students and researchers from around the globe, including those from the seven countries specifically targeted by the U.S. President’s executive order. We value the contributions of our colleagues working and teaching in the United States and overseas and appreciate the rich diversity of our global membership and the significance of intellectual exchange across borders. Indeed, the social and economic benefits of advancements in science, technology and innovation have been well documented. Accordingly, we respectfully urge President Trump and his administration to reconsider this decision.