Fear and uncertainty are spreading across many US universities ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, with some schools advising international students to return early from winter break because of promises of another travel ban like the one that trapped students abroad at the beginning of the Republican’s last term.
In a country where more than 1.1 million international students enrolled in US colleges and universities during the 2023-24 academic year, the former president promised tougher immigration policies upon his return to the White House, including an expansion of the ban of travel for people from predominantly Muslim countries and the revocation of student visas of “radical anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners”.
International students generally have nonimmigrant visas that allow them to study in the U.S. but do not give them a legal path to stay in the country.
“It’s a scary time for international students,” confesses Pramath Pratap Misra, 23, an Indian student who graduated this year with a degree in political science from New York University. NYU had the largest number of international students in the U.S. — more than 27,000 — during the last academic year.
On campuses from New York to California, students not only prepared for final exams before winter break, they also prepared for possible disruptions to their lives and the possibility of not being able to complete their studies. Some universities have urged students to postpone or shorten travel plans outside the US before the inauguration.
Cornell University’s Office of Global Learning advised students who are traveling abroad to return before the start of the spring semester on January 21, or to “communicate with an advisor about your travel plans and be prepared for delays.” ”.
“A travel ban is likely to come into force shortly after the inauguration,” the university warned late last month. “The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia. New countries may be added to this list, namely China and India”.
At the University of Southern California, which had more than 17,000 international students during the last academic year, administrators asked foreign students in an email to return to the U.S. a week before Trump’s return to the White House, saying that “one or more executive orders impacting travel (…) and visa processing” may be issued. USC has the largest number of international students in California.
“While there is no certainty that such orders will be issued, the safest way to avoid any challenges is to be physically present in the U.S. before the start of the spring semester on January 13, 2025,” the USC Office of International Service said. , according to a report published on the student-led media website.
Furthermore, Trump’s promise of “mass deportations” has repercussions beyond critical sectors such as agriculture, leisure and hospitality, construction and healthcare: It is a potentially complicated situation for some students, regardless of their background. your travel plans for the winter holidays.
The president-elect promised, at the same time, to “automatically” grant green cards to foreigners who graduate from American universities, a proposal that – if taken forward by Trump and approved by Congress – could pave the way for millions of international students to become residents legal permanent.
However, shortly after Trump made that pledge in June, a campaign spokesperson said that this group would be limited to “the most qualified graduates” and selected to “exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, people who they hate America and people in public office.” Public charges are understood to mean those who depend on or seek assistance from the State. Trump has not publicly mentioned the proposal since June, and it is unclear how the new administration will address the issue.
The day after last month’s presidential election, the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy reminded students that the university “will not disclose immigration status or related information in confidential student records without a court order, a subpoena, a court order or as required by law.”
“The University also has a strict policy that generally prevents campus police from engaging in joint efforts with federal immigration authorities or from detaining people at the request of the federal government,” the center said.
Uncertain about the future
In October 2023, after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas sparked protests on US college campuses, Trump said at a campaign event that he would revoke student visas and deport “radical anti-American and anti-Semitic foreigners” enrolled in universities. . He criticized the pro-Palestinian protests and assured that he would send agents from the Immigration and Customs Service to what he called “pro-jihadist demonstrations”.
Trump also promised to reinstate and expand his previous travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries – which limited travelers from Iran, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The administration later expanded the travel ban to include several African countries. President Joe Biden lifted the travel ban after taking office in 2021.
Trump promised to implement “strong ideological screening of all immigrants” and said the US would block “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs from gaining residency in our country”.
The president has sought to distance himself from Project 2025 — the controversial plan for a reimagined federal government published by conservatives at the Heritage Foundation in anticipation of a second Trump term — which proposes eliminating “sensitive zones” that limit federal raids on immigration in places such as schools and university campuses. The plan was formulated by Trump allies.
“We are very uncertain about the future”, admits Gabrielle Balreira Fontenelle Mota, 21 years old, Brazilian, student of journalism and international relations at NYU. “I’m not from a Muslim country or China, which are places Trump often criticizes. Therefore, I don’t feel as vulnerable as other international students. (…) What makes me a little more worried are the ideological traces that [Trump] said he will implement it.”
NYU leaders reassured us in a post-election email last month, saying that “as a global institution, we believe that the cross-border mobility of our students and scholars is of crucial importance.”
“We will monitor all proposals, laws and actions related to immigration that may be of concern to our community,” the electronic message said.
Budget time before the start of the semester
New York University had the highest number of international students in the US during the last academic year. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Faced with the specter of restrictive immigration policies, other American universities—including New England schools—have offered resources and issued guidance.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst Office of Global Affairs — “as a matter of caution” — has urged all international students, scholars, faculty and staff to return to campus before the first day of the new administration.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology urged students to avoid “making decisions based on social media and news or rumors.” Northeastern University, which has more international students than any other U.S. college after NYU, recommended that they return to campus by January 6 to “minimize potential disruptions to their studies, work or research.”
Harvard University’s International Office advised students and scholars to “set aside time before the start of the semester, before the Martin Luther King holiday in January” to avoid interruptions or delays. Wesleyan University, in a letter addressed to students traveling abroad, recommended that they return by Jan. 19 due to “uncertainties surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for immigration-related policy.”
“The best way to anticipate or predict what will happen in the second Trump administration is to look at what happened in the first administration, and what we saw in the first Trump administration was an effort to restrict the entry of foreigners (students and workers) into all the categories,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a nonpartisan research organization, during a recent post-election briefing hosted by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf, Catherine E. Shoichet, Maria Santana, Kate Sullivan and Celina Tebor contributed to this report
