Five scholars from Afghanistan who were attending the UW were found in Canada yesterday after being missing for more than a week.

While the Canadian Boarder Services Agency couldn’t confirm or deny the entrance of the men into Canada, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the finding.

“I worked with CBSA and we were able to determine that the five individuals went to Canada,” said Lorie Dankers, an ICE spokeswoman.

Since the scholars are in Canada, the United States does not have control of where they go.

“We don’t have jurisdiction,” Dankers said. “Since they aren’t in the U.S., they’re not in violation of any federal laws.”

The men had student visas, but they violated the terms of the visas by going to Canada.

They won’t be let back into the country, said Norm Arkans, associate vice president of media relations and communications at the UW.

The 33 remaining scholars, who are in the U.S. for a three-month public administration program through the Afghan eQuality Alliances, “are all doing great and are committed to the program and are returning to Afghanistan at the end of the quarter,” Arkans said.

The scholars are graduate students who work for the nonprofit organizations of the Afghan government. They are using the UW libraries and other resources to complete thesis projects in order to earn master’s degrees in public policy and administration at Kabul University.

“We don’t have any concerns for them and this shouldn’t and won’t affect the program,” Arkans said. “We aren’t going to terminate or alter the program at this point.”

This is not the first time this issue has occurred within this program. During spring quarter, all 15 scholars completed the program, but somewhere along the way, two never got back to Afghanistan.

While the UW doesn’t have any expectations for students to leave, Arkans said there could be some changes made to the program next year, such as talking to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and selecting scholars who have a vested interest in returning to Afghanistan.

“This isn’t and shouldn’t ever be a gateway program to the U.S.,” Arkans said.

For now, it is up to the Canadian government to make a decision about how to proceed.

Reach reporter Nicole Ciridon at news@dailyuw.com.