San Diego student exchange sponsor PIE suspended; our own Danielle Grijalva is an international advocate for students

Danielle Grijalva, San Diego advocate for exchange students, helped expose problems.
See all Danielle Grijalva posts.

Student exchange sponsor suspended
By HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press
July 19, 2012

Hundreds of high school exchange students could be affected by a State Department decision to suspend the sponsor-company that was to bring them to the United States.

A department official told The Associated Press on Thursday that Pacific Intercultural Exchange, or PIE, of San Diego was suspended from the popular exchange program on Tuesday.

The official said the agency is working with at least four foreign students now in the U.S. Other sponsoring organizations are trying to find host families for 455 students from 18 countries who had been recruited by the company, but they may have to put off their exchanges until later.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, said PIE was suspended for "violating exchange program regulations," but wouldn't elaborate.

The State Department put the company on probation last year, reduced the number of students it could sponsor by 15 percent and ordered it to improve program administration.

A message seeking comment from PIE wasn't immediately returned Thursday. The company's website says it is a nonprofit organization that has facilitated exchanges for more than 25,000 high school students from all over the world since 1975.

The Exchange Visitor Program brings close to 30,000 high school students to the United States each year. Foreign students live with a host family and attend U.S. schools.

...Advocacy groups often blame the sponsoring organizations, designated by the State Department, for problems that have led to neglect and abuse of the participants, like not properly vetting host families.

Danielle Grijalva, director of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, said it's rare for the State Department to suspend an organization from sponsoring students.

"I believe this action by the State Department exceeds sending a simple `wake-up' call to its sponsors," Grijalva said. "We have nearly 30,000 high school students from across the globe anxious to come to the United States to learn more about American culture and spend thousands of dollars to do so. These students must leave our country at the end of their program with nothing less than a positive impression of the United States."

A lawsuit filed last year in Portland, Ore., alleges that a German student was molested after PIE placed the student in a home with a host father who had a criminal record for fraud.

The complaint, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, said the host father pleaded guilty in December 2010 to four acts of sexual abuse against the student. The lawsuit alleges that PIE did not do an adequate background check.

Earlier this year, AP obtained internal State Department documents that said a review by the agency last year found that 15 of its 39 "largest fee-charging" sponsors were in "regulatory noncompliance," though it didn't say what rules were violated. The memos said the State Department took steps to sever its relationship with one sponsor after the company placed a student "with a host family whose criminal background check revealed a murder conviction."

The State Department told AP in March that it had received 43 allegations of sexual abuse since the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year, but it's not clear if any of those were students sponsored by PIE.

The State Department has adopted several rules designed to safeguard students in the high school program, including requiring all sponsors to photograph the exterior of the house, the kitchen and student's bedroom. Host families also must provide outside character references. Previously, family members and sponsors could be such references.

But the State Department documents also showed that the agency considered but dropped a plan to require FBI background checks similar to what are used by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts because it wasn't "feasible."




Important information for students going to USA under exchange programme
News Central Asia
23 July 2012

Ashgabat (nCa) — For the young students traveling alone for the first time, it is a big leap into the unknown when they leave home for a year of study in the United States, and stay with a family they never met before.

All kinds of things can happen out there when the students are disconnected from their familiar support system of family, friends and the society – and, unpleasant things do happen from time to time.

Except for those funded by the Department of State, most of the exchange programmes are fee-based. Spending several thousand dollars for a year of schooling and stay in the United States means big investment for an average family in Central Asia.

What if the dream turns into a nightmare? What if your daughter gets placed in a family headed by a sex offender? What if someone confiscates here passport and money under some dubious pretext? What if she has a problem but doesn’t know who to talk to you? —- She is thousands of kilometers away from you and she needs immediate assistance or advice: Who should she turn to?

There are several volunteer organizations in the US that offer assistance to the exchange students. The best among them, as far as we know, is the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students (CSFES).

Found by Ms. Danielle Grijalva some seven years ago, CSFES has evolved into a dedicated powerhouse for well-rounded and effective support for the exchange students.

In the United States... Ms. Grijalva has turned the tide nearly single-handedly in favour of exchange students. The tremendous courage to lock horns with the mightiest machinery of the bureaucracy, the moral timbre that never errs, the tireless pursuit to right the wrong, the boundless love that is not limited to just her own children, and the ability to keep a growing team of volunteers fully focused on the challenge are some of the essential traits that define Danielle Grijalva.

We would recommend strongly that any foreign exchange students in the United States (and also their parents), when faced by a problem should immediately contact CFES.

There are several ways to get in touch with them. The easiest is to go to visit the contact page on their website and send them a message.

It is also possible to phone them at 760-583-9593.

Their postal address is: Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, P.O. Box 6496, Oceanside, CA 92056, U.S.A.

Before you leave for the United States, it would be advisable to go the website of CSFES and read carefully the guidelines and tips provided by them. There is a wealth of information, gathered and created by them over the years.

Tips for Parents – When searching for an organization
(from CSFES website)

CETUSA Banned in Effort to Protect Foreign Students From Exploitation

I've been getting questions about whether CETUSA is banned from bringing in foreign students this summer under the State Department's work program. THE ANSWER IS YES. CETUSA IS BANNED FOR TWO YEARS. NO STUDENTS WILL BE BROUGHT IN BY CETUSA UNDER THE SUMMER WORK PROGRAM. See updates below.

However, I do not know if CETUSA has other programs that are still operating.


UPDATES:

State Dept. Slaps Nonprofit for J-1 Violations
Nonprofit Quarterly
2/14/12
By Louis Altman

The U.S. State Department has clamped down on the nonprofit CETUSA, citing years of widespread abuse in its loosely-regulated cultural exchange visa programs. The recruiting agency has been banned from a popular J-1 visa program for two years.

Last year, CETUSA supplied 400 foreign “Summer Work Travel” (SWT) students to a Hershey Co. candy packaging plant (out of a total of 5,000 to 6,000 that CETUSA supplies via the SWT program—which is just one of the J-1 visa programs it engages in—annually). The students are officially supposed to have the opportunity to learn English and mingle with everyday Americans while working in safe, social jobs.


NYT Editorial: Closing the Student Sweatshop
New York Times editorial
February 2, 2012

The State Department took a modest step on Wednesday to cleaning up a major embarrassment. Its Summer Work Travel program for foreign university students was created decades ago to promote goodwill, education and cultural exchange but has since turned into a huge, poorly regulated and abuse-prone foreign guest-worker scheme. The department said it was barring one of the program’s largest sponsors, the Council for Educational Travel, USA, known as Cetusa, from bringing in any more workers, after it sent hundreds of young people to work in a Pennsylvania factory packing Hershey’s chocolates.

The students walked off the job in August to protest dangerous working conditions and low pay at a job they described as an elaborate bait and switch.

Each had paid $3,000 to $6,000 for the privilege of joining the J-1 visa program, which recruiters had billed as a rewarding summer: a taste of Willy Wonka plus the chance to see America. What the students got was endless hours packing and toting heavy boxes, risking injury for rock-bottom wages. There was no “cultural exchange,” unless you count immersion in the culture of an exploited, disposable work force. Once fees and jacked-up rents were deducted from their paychecks, the students netted between $1 and $3.50 an hour, far less than their American counterparts.

Which, as Professor Jennifer Gordon, a labor expert at Fordham Law School, recently noted in The Times, is the point. The summer program is the country’s largest guest-worker program because it is essentially unregulated and its workers are supercheap and lacking basic labor rights. Oversight is lax because the government relies on sponsors — which profit from the program — to do it.

The State Department is making an example of Cetusa, promising to tighten standards to keep sponsors in line and students out of dangerous industries like construction and roofing. The reforms need to go much further by explicitly protecting workers’ rights, including the right to organize, and giving oversight to the Labor Department.




ORIGINAL POST

Yet another misbehaving non-profit organization!

Company Banned in Effort to Protect Foreign Students From Exploitation
By JULIA PRESTON
New York Times
February 1, 2012

Signaling a sharp change of course in the country’s largest international cultural exchange program, the State Department has banned a leading sponsor company from bringing foreign students to the United States for summer jobs and will add new restrictions to protect students from labor abuse, officials said Wednesday.

The removal of the sponsor, the Council for Educational Travel, USA, was intended to send a powerful message to dozens of private companies participating in the State Department’s summer work program that they will have to monitor foreign students far more closely and ensure that participants are not exploited as cheap workers by employers.

The council, which is known as Cetusa, has been one of the biggest sponsors in the summer program and was responsible for placing about 400 foreign students last summer in a Pennsylvania plant packing Hershey’s chocolates. In August, hundreds of those program participants staged a boisterous walkout from the plant to protest low pay and dangerous job conditions.

The students’ demonstrations set off an investigation of Cetusa by the State Department and accelerated a review of the entire summer program, ordered by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2010. Critics on many sides said the program had become a vast source of temporary foreign workers at a time of high joblessness for Americans and had lost some of its purpose as a source of positive cultural exposure to the United States for foreign university students.

Rick Ruth, acting deputy assistant secretary of state, said the department would issue new regulations in coming months to expand the list of occupations prohibited for foreign summer workers. The list will include most jobs in construction and roofing, he said, and others shown statistically to be the most hazardous.

“We want to make sure that sponsors are not putting the labor aspect in the primary position, when it should be the cultural aspect,” Mr. Ruth said in an interview Wednesday.

The department will tighten rules requiring sponsors to protect the health and safety of students and to prevent too many of them from working in the same place — a situation that could rob them of opportunities to interact with Americans. State Department officials said they were also considering a ban on most factory and industrial jobs for the students.

Over the past decade, about one million foreign university students came to the United States through the popular Summer Work Travel program.

Mr. Ruth said the department had decided to ban Cetusa, a measure that took effect on Monday, after the five-month investigation revealed a “scope and severity and pattern of noncompliance.” The lapses he cited echoed the complaints of the foreign students at the plant in Palmyra, Pa., who found themselves forced to work grueling night shifts lifting heavy boxes of Hershey’s candies for take-home pay so low they sometimes went hungry.

State Department officials found “an almost complete lack of cultural activities” for the students sent by Cetusa to the plant, and a “laxness” about their health and safety. The strains of the packing jobs and injuries that resulted were overlooked by the company, officials said.

Students’ complaints were routinely ignored and in some cases were met with “unacceptable threats and intimidation” that their visas could be canceled, officials said. The investigation also raised questions about whether the students had been overcharged by Cetusa for housing, the officials said.

Rick Anaya, the president of Cetusa, which is based in California, did not respond to requests for comment by telephone and e-mail.

Although a nonprofit, Cetusa, which sponsored more than 5,000 students last year, stands to lose at least $5 million in annual fees for the summer program. The company also created businesses providing health insurance to the students. State Department officials are reviewing Cetusa’s participation in three other academic exchanges. Under formal rules, the company could reapply after two years, but a return in that time appeared unlikely.

Several foreign students who worked at the packing plant, now back in their home countries, said they were excited to learn of the impact of their outcry...

Danielle Grijalva case settled

See all Danielle Grijalva posts.

Danielle Grijalva writes:

Below is an email dated December 10, 2010, from Jeff Laband, Executive Director of NorthWest Student Exchange.

...Paragraph four of Mr. Laband's email translated ... reads,

"Last but not least I would like to know why you sent a letter to Danielle Grijalva? Yesterday I received a message, that there had been a law suit about a calumny against an exchange agency. She was found guilty last month and had to pay a penalty of a 6-digits sum."

Mr. Laband's statement is false. To confirm; contact my attorney, Mr. Aaron C. Hanes of Winet, Patrick & Weaver at 760-758-4261.

[Maura Larkins comment: Danielle Grijalva's home insurance company settled the case without Grijalva's approval. The insurance company felt it would be cheaper to settle rather than to pay the enormous cost of a trial. The civil trial that was scheduled was canceled, so Grijalva's statements were not found to be false, and she did not retract them.]

Continued attempts to harm my reputation and thwart the efforts of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students will not be tolerated.

Respectfully,
Danielle Grijalva, Director
Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: direct placement Sebastian Grossmann. Baltmore Politechnic Institute
From: "Jeff Laband"
Date: Fri, December 10, 2010

Sehr geehrter Herr Grossmann,

...Letztlich moechte ich gern wissen, warum Sie Ihr Schreiben an Danielle Grijalva schicken. Ich bekam gestern die Nachricht, dass sie vor einer Weile wegen Verleumdung gegen eine Austauschorganisation verklagt und letzten Monat als schuldig verurteilt wurde. Sie musste eine 6-zahlige Busgelt bezahlen...

Jeff Laband
Executive Director
NorthWest Student Exchange
Seattle, WA 98105, USA
NWSE promotes affordable international exchange programs to great students and host families, is designated by the US Department of State and has full listing with CSIET.

[Maura Larkins comment: In reference to the statement underneath Mr. Laband's signature, the truth is that "designation as a Sponsor does not imply approval, sponsorship or promotion of an organization by the U.S. Government and should not be so implied in advertisements, business cards, websites, etc."]

For Norwegian exhange student, America seems to value mean girls' culture above due process

Thanks to Google's translation capabilities, I am able to present the story of a Norwegian girl who was apparently the target of "mean girls" culture in the U.S., where she was an exchange student. Note the "evidence" in the photo: an open beer container (that does not appear to be hers) on a counter.

Link to Norwegian TV website: Louise thrown out of the U.S. - alleged that she had been drinking beer

18 year old Louise Berge enjoyed the U.S. until she suddenly was thrown out...When her daughter came home bursting into tears earlier this year, the couple began to look for the reason. I thought that Louise probably had committed some youthful sins. They find none.

They have four prohibitions with the letter D, "says Louise, "no drinking, no driving, no dating, no dope." I broke none of the restrictions.

But on a blog there was a picture of Louise standing next to an opened beer bottle...

Anyone who knows anything about high school understands that there are many rumors going, says Louise. Perhaps the rumor spreading is the cause here? We exchange students were taken aside by the principal and told that we should adjust our behavior. There was a rumor in the small town in Vermont that we fixed game, which was not true!

Louise had a few days notice, then was taken away from her family, almost "detained" in a foreign place as parents perceive it, and sent home with an explanation that the family do not agree with...



Danielle Grijalva writes:

...Another story about the treatment of a Norwegian exchange student has reached TV2 Norway. The international reputation of the United States is being harmed.

Danielle Grijalva, Director
Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students
P.O. Box 6496 / Oceanside, CA 92052
www.csfes.org

U.S. Department of State is proposing to amend regulations for hosting exchange students

Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students

PRESS RELEASE
Contact:
Danielle Grijalva, Director
P.O. Box 6496 / Oceanside, CA 92052
http://www.csfes.org/
Phone: 760-583-9593
Email: DGrijalva@csfes.org

Nationwide Campaign to Stop Fingerprint, Criminal Background Checks

14 May 2010 -- The U.S. Department of State is proposing to amend the existing regulations to impose new program administration requirements within the secondary school student exchange program.

Link to proposed existing regulations

Director, Danielle Grijalva of the Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students (CSFES) said, "The State Department is to be commended for strengthening the federal regulations which were written to protect this vulnerable group, yet many among the exchange industry are vigorously opposing the very measures to protect these children and the reputation of our country."

In an email dated May 20, 2010, President of Youth For Understanding USA, Mike Finnell, announced, "YFU NEEDS YOUR VOICE IN WASHINGTON". Mr. Finnell's email began, "Earlier this week, the US Department of State (DOS) published proposed changes to the J-1 exchange visitor regulations which would greatly affect our international students, host families (like you), and volunteers (like you). While YFU remains vigilant as always to protect and ensure student safety and well-being, we view many of the proposed regulations as excessive, invasive and likely to be prohibitive for those wishing to become involved in YFU and other international exchange organizations."

On May 4, 2010, Judge Michael J. Barrasse of Pennsylvania sentenced ASPECT Foundation area representative, Edna Burgette, to three months in Lackawanna County Prison. According to the May 5, 2010, The Times Tribune, story by Joe McDonald, Burgette was sent to prison, "...for recklessly endangering foreign-exchange students she placed in squalid living conditions while collecting fees for setting up host families."

In July of last year, CNN Special Investigations Unit Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston, exposed in its investigation, "Exchange students live American nightmare," where U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr., said, "It's inexcusable that our government didn't do a better job of oversight. And it's inexcusable that this foundation hasn't done the job to provide basic protection for children."

CNN's Reporter Drew Griffin said, "CNN has learned ASPECT knew about the problems in Scranton way back in October; when a student sent photos and an email pleading for help. And the State Department, which spends $34 million a year on exchange programs, well, it knew too."

CNN's Drew Griffin said, "Senator Casey says emails show the State Department knew about the problems here since last October and did nothing for months. And then the State Department allowed Aspect, the agency that placed the students in these homes, to investigate itself."

CNN's Drew Griffin said, "P.J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs says that was a mistake." Assistant Secretary Crowley said, "I think in large respect because we, we put too much emphasis on the program agents to police themselves; we recognize that that has not worked properly."

Students who have participated in foreign exchange student programs have become victims of crimes including abuse and sexual exploitation during their stays in the United States. Grijalva of CSFES stated, "Student placement agencies not interested in the complete health, safety and welfare of its students should not be allowed to place exchange students."

Public comment period is open until June 2, 2010.

New defamation lawsuit: COUNCIL FOR EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL, USA v. Danielle Grijalva

Oceanside student advocate Danielle Grijalva has been sued by an Orange County exchange-student organization that doesn't like Grijalva's website because it reveals mistreatment of foreign students. Here's a copy of an email Grijalva sent to Jim Gelbmann, who is also interested in student safety.

LETTER FROM DANIELLE GRIJALVA TO MINNESOTA SEC. OF STATE:

Jim Gelbmann
Minnesota Deputy Secretary of State

With great interest we listened to your interview yesterday with Mr. Don Shelby of WCCO Radio:

http://www.wccoradio.com/pages/1624066.php

Attached you will find a Summons served Sunday, July 12; COUNCIL FOR EDUCATIONAL TRAVEL, USA, a non-profit corporation v. Danielle Grijalva; Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students; and DOES 1-20, Inclusive.

The Complaint for Damages; Slander Per Se; Libel; Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary and Permanent; Injunction; Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage.

Respectfully,
Danielle Grijalva, Director
Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students
P.O. Box 6496 / Oceanside, CA 92052
www.csfes.org

See all posts re Danielle Grijalva.

Aspect program collects big money from foreign kids to see America, but where's the oversight?

Exchange student scandal spurs calls for reforms
Sarah Hofius Hall
Jun. 7, 2009
The Times-Tribune

The alleged neglect and financial exploitation of 12 Lackawanna and Luzerne county foreign exchange students revealed a glaring lack of oversight...The call for stronger oversight was spurred by the complaints of a dozen students placed in area homes by Scranton resident Edna Burgette, area coordinator for the San Francisco-based Aspect Foundation. Students reported being placed in filthy homes which were later condemned and being shuffled from home to home, including living in one with ex-convicts. At least one required medical attention for malnutrition...

Numerous requests for an interview with an Aspect representative have been denied...

The students -- who are between the ages of 15 and 18 and come from countries including Nigeria, Denmark, Vietnam, Norway, Tanzania, France and Colombia -- paid Aspect for placement here. One mother reported paying $12,000 for her son to experience life in an American family...

Hillary Clinton urged to investigate people who prey on exchange students

Within weeks, approximately 30,000 exchange visitors will be arriving in the United States. Placement agencies that refuse to adhere to the federal regulations represents a serious threat to our country's reputation in the world.

Pennsylvania attorney general probes exchange students
June 4, 2009

Casey Urges Secretary Clinton to Investigate U.S. Youth Exchange Programs
Sends letter after reports of mistreatment of students in Pennsylvania
May 26, 2009

Respectfully,
Danielle Grijalva, CFES