Eastern Standard: September 17th, 2026

The Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom is commemorating the 50th anniversary of "Harlan County USA" with an hourlong radio documentary Oct. 12.(Jared Kunish / AMSN)This week on Eastern Standard: As of September 15 under a new Trump administration rule, international students and exchange visitors generally are no longer admitted to the country for what has long been called the “duration of status” — essentially, the length of time required to complete their academic programs. Instead, most will be admitted for a fixed period of no more than four years and will have to seek federal approval to remain longer. Raising concerns about the implications is our guest, former University of Kentucky Provost, Kumble Subbaswamy. “I’m Not From Here” is a new series from Eastern Standard contributor David T. Miller. He’s been talking with people whose origins are elsewhere in the US and the world about their experiences coming to our region. Today’s guest is: Nima Kulkarni, a Louisville-based immigration attorney and the first foreign-born Indian-American member of the Kentucky General Assembly. She was six years old when her family came to America from India, settling in Louisville. Voter-registration data gathered and analyzed by USA-Facts finds that in three out of four counties where party-registration data is available, the share of voters registered outside the Democratic and Republican parties has increased. Joining us is Amber Thomas, Senior Data Visualization Engineer at USAFacts. There’s a documentary about a documentary in the works. Derek Operle, news director at member station WKMS in Murray, has been talking with people involved in the making of the Oscar-winning film “Harlan County USA”, the legendary film that will be screened as part of the Twelve Lions Film Festival at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington. *There has been an update since we produced the original version of this episode. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston has ruled in favor of a coalition of unions and higher education advocacy groups saying the Department of Homeland Security adopted the policy based on "exceptionally weak" rationales. Judge Saylor, appointed to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, wrote that the rule upended a system through which the U.S. for nearly five decades had issued visas to foreign students for their "duration of status.” So, for now, the administration’s rule is on hold.