Johns Hopkins Chinese international student at a crossroads over student visa crackdown

CBS News

2 days ago

Some international students at Johns Hopkins University are facing uncertainty with the Trump administration turning its attention to student visas for Chinese students.
Last week, the administration announced it would revoke some visas of Chinese international students who are in critical fields or connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
JHU student hopes the visa crackdown is temporary
A Chinese graduate student at Johns Hopkins, who spoke to WJZ, has been in the United States since 2015, when he was in high school, studying without issue.
His parents sent him to the U.S. for school because of the unhealthy and extreme pressure he faced ahead of the Chinese college application test. He hopes the student visa crackdown is just temporary.
"It was scary," said the student, who is identified only as "Frank." "Maybe this is just kind of like a scare tactic that would just add political weight to their trade negotiations."
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-24 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the nation.
Intensifying scrutiny between U.S. and China
The U.S. government plans to "revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong."
"Every visa adjudication is a national security decision," said Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the State Department. "We think about national security, the nature of how we keep America safe and secure and more prosperous."
The U.S. action comes at a time of intensifying scrutiny of the ties between U.S. higher education and China.
House Republicans this month pressed Duke University to cut its ties with a Chinese university, saying it allowed Chinese students to gain access to federally funded research at Duke.
"This reflects the current rare bipartisan consensus that China is the enemy of the United States," Frank said.
Revoking student visas for international students
The federal government has attempted to revoke legal status for thousands of international students, many of whom appeared to draw federal scrutiny due to minor legal infractions — though a federal judge has halted that practice.
The Trump administration has sought to deport several pro-Palestinian student activists under a law allowing visas to be revoked if somebody poses "adverse foreign policy consequences."
Earlier this week, the administration tried to halt all international student enrollments at Harvard University. A judge blocked the move, part of a wider battle between the government and the Ivy League school over its handling of campus protests.
Frank has to decide whether to stay and fulfill his American dream or find a new path.
"Should I really live through the added difficulty of being labeled a Chinese national here, while still believing there's the American dream, or would I make an alternative choice?" Frank said.
Johns Hopkins addresses the future of international students
Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels and Provost Ray Jayawardhana sent a letter to the campus community on Monday addressing several challenges that lie ahead for the university, including the future of international students.
"The recent moves by the federal government to revoke or withhold visas from eligible international students and scholars run counter to more than a century of collaboration at Hopkins with students and scholars who hail from around the world," the letter said. "Our international community has always been critical to our research mission, and we are deeply concerned about the toll of this uncertainty on our students and on our university as a whole, with every division set to welcome current and prospective international students, faculty, and staff who choose to make their home at Johns Hopkins."