NBC has been bemoaning a bill has been introduced in the House that would end America’s routine issuance of student visas to nationals of an unfriendly foreign power. In response to the measure, Kimmy Yam published an article on NBCNews.com on March 19 alleging that the bill amounted to a “new Chinese exclusion act.”
The article focused heavily on the complaints of current Chinese students and advocacy groups in the U.S., and gave less attention to the practical security concerns which might make such a measure attractive. Yam gave attention, for instance, to an anonymous Chinese student who flatly denounced the bill as “just blatant racism and xenophobia,” and another who claimed to have noticed a “slight shift” in attitudes since Trump took office, but who failed to back up these words with any actual specifics. Yam also claimed that the…
