U.S. Rep. Mark Green wants the UW-Madison administration to reconsider its refusal to help the federal government question international students as part of a nationwide campaign.

In a letter addressed to UW Chancellor John Wiley, Green, R-Green Bay, said Wiley’s announcement last week worked against the terrorist attack investigation. Wiley had indicated UW would not aid the U.S. Attorney’s office in its probe of 5,000 resident aliens, 100 of whom are located in Wisconsin.

“The success of the current Justice Department investigation is literally a matter of life and death,” Green wrote Wednesday. “We are in a race against time, and if we lose, thousands more Americans could become new casualties of terrorist savagery.”

Wiley made his announcement last week, saying the Justice Department’s probe of young men aged 18-33 who have entered the country since 2000 from countries that have been linked to the terrorists was “broadly based and appears to consist of people who are not suspected of terrorist activity.”

Two UW students have already reported to the school that they were questioned by federal agents about their background.

Green said the profile the Justice Department is analyzing is not broadly based, but is drawn from commonsense guidelines because those in question are not U.S. citizens and have entered the country on specific types of nominating visas.
Green also reminded the chancellor that the probe is voluntary.