Seven higher education organizations, including the Association of American Universities (AAU), sent a joint statement to the director of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). The associations wrote in response to the memo titled "Accrual of Unlawful Presence for F, J, and M Nonimmigrants." The joint statement emphasizes how the proposed policy obscures and conflates the important distinction between ‘unlawful presence’ – illegal presence in the United States – and the ‘maintenance of status’ – as defined under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).