International students, faculty and researchers left Thursday's Immigration Information Workshop with two new maxims: arm yourself with information and don't travel outside the U.S.

The workshop featured three lawyers, from the Phoenix-based firm Bacon and Dear, who addressed new issues and concerns in immigration laws.

"It's important you know where the Constitution protects you and where it doesn't," said Roxana Bar, a partner at the firm, to a noon audience of about 80 that followed a morning session that filled UA's Gallagher Theatre.

The goal of the workshop was to help international students and faculty understand the dramatic changes in immigration laws since Sept. 11, 2001. Bar addressed the recent switch of departments handling immigration issues, from Immigration and Naturalization Service to the new Department of Homeland Security.

· This administration has declared war on immigration. -Roxana Bar of the Bacon and Dear law firm

DHS was established to protect the United States from terrorism, according to Bar, who added that the department reflects a new style of thinking for Americans.

"The new mentality is that everyone coming to the U.S. is a potential terrorist," she said.

Along with the formation of DHS, Bar said, many other things have also changed. Visas are no longer re-validated, many immigration privileges have been revoked, new security checks are in place and foreigners are now tracked when entering, staying in and leaving the country. In addition, numerous national databases have been added to aid in keeping track of foreign nationals in the U.S.

One of these databases is the new Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.

SEVIS was established to track international students and scholars in the U.S., and allows for better exchange of information between the Department of State and the Bureau of Customs and Immigration Services. The system was originally supposed to be active at all major universities by Jan. 31, 2003, however the deadline has since been pushed back to August 2003, according to Danielle Ventura-Fernandez, an associate of Bar's.

Ventura-Fernandez emphasized the areas that international students and scholars are personally responsible for updating in SEVIS, including any reduction in one's course load, extended time periods for study programs and all address changes.

Foreign nationals are required to file any address changes via an AR-11 form so that the government knows where they are at all times, Bar said.

"I'm about to transfer to another university, so I am very concerned with my status change," said Heng Li, a second year environmental engineering master's student from China. He said before the workshop that he was unaware he had to update his address information, but plans to very soon.

Although, Fernandez and Bar said they did not anticipate any foreign nationals to not have registered with the system by the deadline, Bar said if that happens then the deadline would most likely be postponed again.

Bar added that anyone behind in the process must act now or will face criminal penalties.

Furthermore, males ages 16-45 from 26 different countries are now required to got through a special registration with INS.

"(Special registration) is an effort by the U.S. government to get its arms around data about how many people fit in the category of a potential terrorist," Bar said.

The special registration requires foreign nationals to be interviewed, provide documentation and provide any information of their past that could link them to a terrorist organization, including arrests without conviction. Bar said she strongly encourages any foreign nationals to be prepared, both practically and emotionally, and to bring a lawyer if they feel a problem could arise.

International students and faculty in attendance were also strongly advised to refrain from travel.

Lisa Gregory, another associate of Bar's, said the current rule of thumb is to not travel outside of the U.S., but if it is necessary, "understand what your status is and know what a visa is."

Gregory said having a valid updated visa is necessary to re-enter the U.S. and is a good thing to have even when traveling within the U.S.

"A visa allows you to get on a plane and travel to the U.S. to knock on the door and ask for admission," Gregory said, adding that an updated visa stamp is necessary to enter the country.

Martin Pessah, an astronomy graduate student from Argentina, said he wanted to know if he could take a planned weekend trip to Mexico legally.

"I wanted to be sure if I go to Nogales, I can come back," said Pessah, who is also planning on attending summer school in Europe, but doesn't anticipate immigration problems.

Other international students who plan to return to their native countries in the future are reconsidering their travel itinerary.

"I would like to go home to China to visit my family in December, but now I might have to wait," said Fei Peng, a first year electrical and computer engineering master's student.

"They said right now isn't a good time. If security continues to tighten, then I don't know when I will get to go," Peng said.

Although Bar and Gregory offered no specific timeframe as to when to resume travel, Bar said, "Read the papers, this administration has declared war on immigration."

Today there will be a follow-up workshop that will instruct international students and faculty on how to update their documents to comply with the new government regulations.

The workshop, with two sessions at noon and 2:30 p.m., will be in the in the Student Union Memorial Center's Gallagher Theatre. Another follow-up workshop will take place at 4 p.m. tomorrow in the Physics and Atmospheric Sciences building, Room 201.