Foreign students wary of US as Trump presses 'dehumanizing' campaign
Donald Trump's expanding crackdown on elite universities is prompting some international students to abandon applications to campuses in the United States and spreading stress and anxiety among those already enrolled.
The president has upended the country's reputation among foreign students, who number around one million, as he presses a campaign against US universities he sees as obstructing his "Make America Great Again" populist agenda.
He has blocked Harvard hosting international scholars in a maneuver being challenged legally, targeted non-citizen campus activists for deportation, and most recently suspended student visa processing across the board.
Harvard applied mathematics and economic student Abdullah Shahid Sial, 20, said the Trump administration's campaign against US universities that the president accused of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism had been "dehumanizing."
"It's really unfortunate that this is the case for 18, 19, and 20-year-olds who came here without any family, and in most cases, haven't been to the US before," said Sial, who is from Pakistan and hopes to be able to return to Harvard next academic year.
Sial said he advised acquaintances to have backup plans if US colleges became inaccessible, and that a friend applied to Harvard's law school, as well as Columbia's, and two less reputable British institutions -- ultimately opting to go to the UK.
"He definitely liked Harvard way more (but) he doesn't want this amount of uncertainty surrounding his education," Sial said.
Karl Molden, a Harvard government and classics student from Austria, said Trump's move to block the university hosting and enrolling foreign students meant he was unsure if he would be able to return after summer vacation.
- 'In the dark' -
While that decision -- affecting some 27 percent of the overall Harvard population -- was paused by a judge pending a hearing Thursday, the move still threw student plans into chaos.
"I kind of figured I would be in the target group of Trump. I'm personally right in the middle of it, so an option for me would be to study abroad... I have applied to study at Oxford because of all the action" taken by Trump, said Molden, 21.
"It's just really hard."
Harvard academics say they have already started to feel the impact of Trump's vendetta against the school, in feedback from colleagues based outside the United States.
"I've already heard this from professors in other countries who say 'we encourage our best students to go to the United States'," Harvard professor Ryan Enos told AFP at a noisy rally against Trump's policies Tuesday, adding "we wonder if we can tell them that anymore."
The halt to visa processing revealed this week is reportedly to allow for more stringent screening of applicants' social media -- and protest activity.
"International students already represent the most tracked and vetted category of nonimmigrants in the United States. It is a poor use of taxpayer dollars," said the NAFSA Association of International Educators non-profit.
Trump meanwhile continued his assault on Harvard, saying university leaders have "got to behave themselves.
"Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper," he said Wednesday in the White House.
One Spanish student of politics and statistics, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, told AFP she would not be deterred from pursuing her planned year abroad at Columbia University.
"It's scary, because we think to ourselves that all our activity on social networks could be monitored, for example if we like pro-Palestinian posts or anti-Trump posts. All of that could see us denied a visa," she said.
Students due to return to Harvard after the summer break are in limbo pending a ruling on Harvard's exclusion from the foreign student system.
"I'm completely in the dark," said 20-year-old Alfred Williamson, a Welsh-Danish physics and government student in his second year at Harvard.
"As for my other options, and like all other international students, I'm just clinging on to the hope that Harvard will win this battle against the White House."
Sial, the Harvard student from Pakistan, said foreign students like him were "made to fight this battle which no one signed up for."
"It's really unfortunate that it's come down to that."
gw/mlm
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
26 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
JGBs Mixed; Trade, Geopolitical Tensions May Support
0014 GMT — JGBs are mixed in price terms in the early Tokyo session, but may be supported by trade and geopolitical tensions that typically enhance the safe-haven appeal of sovereign debt. U.S. President Trump said on Friday that he would increase tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to 50% from current 25%, effective June 4. Meanwhile, Ukraine launched drone attacks on four military airports inside Russia, destroying more than 40 warplanes. Five-year JGB yield is unchanged at 1.015%; 30-year yield is down 1.5 bps at 2.950%. (
28 minutes ago
GOP budget battle over ‘Big Beautiful Bill'
Republicans are squabbling over whether President Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' will boost the economy, or add trillions to the nation's debt. ABC News' Selina Wang reports.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Small businesses struggle under Trump's tariff whiplash: ‘I'm so angry that my own government has done this to me'
For some small businesses, the last week brought even more twists and turns to the past two months of President Donald Trump's chaotic tariffs. The situation was already confusing, with stops and starts of tariffs at different levels. Then on Wednesday, a US court said Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of those import levies – only for an appeals court on Thursday to pause the previous court's ruling. The confusion has made it challenging for some small companies to plan, business owners told CNN. In certain cases, they have had to consider changing their product strategy, looking into shifting their supply chains, reducing staff hours or delaying products. 'My fear is, if this continues, there's going to be like the mass extinction of small businesses,' Julie Robbins, CEO of Ohio-based guitar pedal maker EarthQuaker Devices, told CNN. Trump announced blanket tariffs across the globe on April 2, and since then, his plans have changed on a regular basis. In early April, he issued a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs almost everywhere except China. Then, after ratcheting up total tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%, he declared smartphones and certain other electronics would be exempt from the reciprocal tariffs. The US and China agreed in May to roll back reciprocal tariffs for 90 days. And in late May, he threatened smartphone makers like Apple with 25% tariffs if they don't make their phones in the US. He also agreed to push back levies on imports from the European Union until July 9. Those are only some of his changes, which can come at any time of day via the White House, social media posts or other avenues. The whiplash has been hard for companies to keep up with. Even major brands like apparel giant Gap are feeling the impact of tariffs, but small companies with far fewer resources are in an even tougher spot. The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Optimism Index fell by 1.6 points in April, dipping below the 51-year average for the second consecutive month. The organization's chief economist, Bill Dunkelberg, cited uncertainty as a 'major impediment' for small business owners in a press release. 'It's the sort of more smaller, kind of more niche… brands that are going to really, really get hit by this,' Jack Leathem, an analyst at market research firm Canalys, told CNN in April. Some small business owners have had to make difficult decisions as they've grappled with the impact of tariffs. EveAnna Manley, whose company Manley Labs makes high-end electronics for recording studios, has had to cut her employees' hours by 25%. The reciprocal tariffs that China imposed on the US have been particularly challenging, she says, since China has become a major market for her business. Manley says it took 'decades' for her to 'get the best Chinese importers.' Overall, Manley Labs' sales are down more than 19% compared to last year, she told CNN, which has frozen the company's product development efforts. 'It's just a freaking mess right now,' she said in late May, before this past week's court rulings on Trump's tariffs. 'And I'm so angry that my own government has done this to me.' The best thing small businesses can do right now is to be flexible and diversify their sourcing and procurement strategies, says Tala Akhavan, chief operating officer of Pietra, a platform that helps brands with sourcing, production and logistics among other services. That's what Intuition Robotics, which makes a home robot designed to be a companion for older adults, is doing, according to chief strategy officer Assaf Gad. The company also makes money off its digital subscription accounts, according to Gad, giving it the flexibility to look into a 'plan B' outside of China for producing the company's hardware. Sudden changes in tariff policies haven't really impacted the company's decisions because it's planning for the next nine to 12 months rather than the short term, he said in mid-May. Trump's tariffs have encouraged Gad to think about expanding Intuition Robotics into international markets. 'Maybe this is also a good time to say, 'Let's not put all the eggs in one basket,'' he said, 'and, you know, start looking on other kind of territories that will reduce the risk for us going forward.' But for some companies, finding a plan B isn't so easy. That's the case for Sarah O'Leary, CEO of Willow, which makes wearable breast pumps and accessories. As a medical device company, Willow can't simply just move its manufacturing, O'Leary told CNN. The company had to pause exporting one product it produces in China for postpartum recovery at one point because it became too expensive. The ruling on Wednesday aiming to block many tariffs brought some relief, O'Leary said in an emailed statement on Thursday evening. But she acknowledged that there's still 'so much uncertainty,' adding that 'the chaos will persist.' Any tariffs, even low ones, would be difficult for a small company like hers to absorb, she said in mid-May. 'We don't build our products with that much margin,' she said. 'And so, unfortunately, we are in a position where we have to evaluate what we can do to survive in those contexts.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
