When Brendon Slattery moved to the United States in 2019, the accomplished barrister and solicitor hoped it would help him expose the injustices of some of Australia’s most vulnerable communities.
Instead, he got caught up in a legal minefield of his own.
Having worked in remote communities in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia for 10 years, he planned to study documentary-making at a Manhattan college before returning to Australia to produce a film about Indigenous deaths in custody.
But after just eight months of tuition, the coronavirus pandemic struck. Brendon happened to be in Canada visiting family and got caught up in the border closures. And there was worse to come.
“In July, the Trump administration suddenly announced that international students had to leave the United States if their classes were online-only,” he said. “I was halfway through my studies and stuck in Canada with no option.”
Like thousands of Australians, Brendon was in the US on an F-1 student visa.
“All my classes had moved to remote learning, and even if they hadn’t, I couldn’t physically get to any lessons,” he said.
“To hear that I no longer qualified for my visa was incredibly stressful. I was literally scrolling through the news every five minutes for updates. I was looking at flights back to Australia which had blown out to over $15,000. I was considering leaving my partner behind. It was a chaotic time.”
To hear that I no longer qualified for my visa was incredibly stressful.
– Brendon Slattery
Thankfully for Brendon, the rules were overturned after the White House faced a slew of lawsuits challenging the policy. But his experience is far from an exception.
Outgoing president Donald Trump’s hardline, anti-immigration rhetoric has affected tens-of-thousands of Australians in the US – many of whom have lived through a dramatic decline in visa conditions over the past few years – as basic rights for foreigners have been stripped away.
“In the last six to 12 months, dramatic changes to visa policies have significantly impacted our ability to stay, and for many, made it completely impossible,” said Josh Pugh, an Adelaide native who’s been living in New York since 2017.
He has developed a business that assists Australians in the US – America Josh – and he’s noticed increasing anxiety among his network.
“While it’s easy to think that this only impacts some 20-something with wanderlust, that doesn’t account for the vast majority of people. Many have lived here for years, they work and have families and homes, and future plans, all of which are suddenly up-ended in a tweet.”
The changes to immigration policies escalated in the past year, even after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s historic state dinner at the White House, at which both political leaders touted their country’s ‘shared values’.
Some of the changes were specific, targeting groups such as international students, but others were more general, causing mass panic. For instance, in April, Mr Trump announced an executive order barring new immigration via a late-night tweet.
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” he wrote.
The president later clarified the new order would only temporarily apply to people seeking green cards. His justification was that he was saving jobs for Americans. “By pausing immigration, we’ll help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs as America reopens,” he told reporters during a coronavirus briefing.
One of the more damaging policies initially announced was a change to the wages some Australians would have to make in order to be able to work in the US. This would have adversely affected those on the E-3 – a specific visa for Australians created as a result of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement.
“To give you an example, before October 8, 2020, a level 1 marketing specialist needed to earn at least $47,590 (US) per year. After October 8, 2020, they needed to earn at least $73,091 (US) to meet the prevailing wage,” said US immigration lawyer Zjantelle Cammisa Markel.
The decision to increase required wages was set aside by a US court in December, but has been reissued with less dramatic salary hikes, to go into effect later this year. Critics of the policy see it as a way to price immigrants out of the country’s labour market.
But for Australians choosing to stay, hope lies ahead.
From the moment incoming president Joe Biden takes office on January 20, his administration will be under pressure to dismantle many of Mr Trump’s controversial immigration policies.
Brendon Slattery, right, says this year has been stressful.
Supplied
Last week, Mr Biden announced new White House staff members to work under Susan Rice – the director of his Domestic Policy Council, with their focus to include immigration.
And reports this week said he will roll out an overhaul of immigration laws the day he is inaugurated, including an eight-year pathway to citizenship and an expansion of refugee admissions.
For Australians like Brendon, that’s good news.
“Things have to change,” he said. “So many of us are living life in limbo at the moment. These constant changes are affecting a lot of good people who are simply here trying to improve their skills and knowledge – tools they can use to help both America and Australia.”
The US Immigration Department has not responded to a request for comment.
Katherine Firkin is a New York-based journalist and author originally from Melbourne.
