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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
As Trump takes aim at international students, these colleges have the most to lose
Since President Trump returned to office, some of the most aggressive actions taken by his administration have centered around two issues: immigration and higher education. He has launched a nationwide mass deportation program that has defied courts and stretched the bounds of his constitutional authority. He has also targeted some of the nation's most prestigious colleges, revoking billions of dollars in federal funding while trying to strong-arm them into overhauling how they operate. Students who have come to the United States for college have found themselves at the center of both of these ongoing ideological battles, forced to deal with the whiplash of changing policies, a barrage of court orders and rampant uncertainty about whether they'll be able to continue their education in this country. In the past few months, more than 1,800 international students attending nearly 300 universities have had their visas revoked by the State Department — only to see that decision abruptly reversed. Multiple foreign students have been detained for weeks by immigration authorities because of their political activities. The administration has tried to revoke Harvard's right to host international students but has so far been blocked by a court order. On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered U.S. embassies worldwide to pause visa interviews for prospective students. It's unclear how long that pause might be in effect or how the administration's new procedures might affect the number of international students who end up coming to the U.S. next year. What is certain is that America's longstanding position as a coveted destination for scholars from around the world has been upended. Students from other nations have been coming to study at American universities for more than 100 years, and their numbers have steadily grown over the course of the past century. During the 2023-24 school year, the U.S. was the top academic destination in the world, with a record-setting 1.1 million foreign students attending American colleges, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE). A number of past presidents have viewed international exchange programs as a way to build strong relationships with other nations. They understood that the 'best and brightest' students from all over the world would likely grow up to have great influence in their home nations and instilling them with a positive view of the United States could help with future diplomacy. 'We know that some other president, in other days, will be greeting you as either the prime ministers or the presidents or the first ladies of significant countries,' then-President John F. Kennedy Jr. told a group of foreign students in 1962. 'And I hope when you do that, you will say that you were at the White House once before.' As their numbers have grown, foreign students have also become increasingly important economically, both to the schools they attend and the surrounding communities. Last year, international students were responsible for adding $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy and supported nearly 400,000 American jobs, according to estimates from the international education group NAFSA. The number of international students in the United States has nearly doubled over the past two decades, in large part because of their financial value to schools in the wake of the Great Recession. 'When particularly public colleges and state budgets were being cut, you could actually see how declines in state dollars going to colleges were being made up for with foreign enrollments. Those tuition dollars are pretty important to keeping the lights on,' Carolyn Beeler, a reporter for Inside Higher Ed, said in an interview with The World radio network last year. Many foreign students pay significantly more in tuition and fees than locals do. They are also far less likely to rely on financial aid or scholarships. Roughly 80% of international students cover the cost of attending college in the U.S. entirely on their own, which helps schools funnel more money to their American students. 'There's this perception that international students are coming here and that we are paying as Americans, and we're subsidizing them. But the fact is, it's really the reverse,' Beeler told The World. Hundreds of universities across the country have international students on their campuses, but they are especially important to some of the nation's most prestigious colleges. New York University had more than 27,000 foreign students enrolled during the last academic year, by far the most of any school. Elite schools in the Northeast and the West Coast also rank in the top 10 for foreign student enrollment, along with a few top-flight schools in the middle of the country. While foreign students are important wherever they attend, they are especially valuable in the places that they flock to in the highest numbers. California and New York, the top two states for international enrollment, both saw more than $6 billion in economic impact and over 50,000 jobs supported by visiting students during the last academic year, according to NAFSA data. There is already some evidence that international enrollment may have dipped significantly for the current academic year, which started during the final months of the Biden administration. It's too early to know how big of an impact the Trump administration's policies will have on the number of students who both choose to and are allowed to come to the United States for their education. The next school year doesn't start for a few months, and there will undoubtedly be new developments, court rulings and changes to official procedures between now and then.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: No, JFK Jr. did not call Biden a 'traitor' in newly released JFK assassination files
Claim: A JFK assassination file declassified in March 2025 contained a letter in which John F. Kennedy Jr. called then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden a "traitor." Rating: On March 18, 2025, the U.S. government released a significant collection of documents related to former President John F. Kennedy's assassination, following a Jan. 23 executive order by President Donald Trump. Shortly after the release, social media users claimed one of the newly declassified records included a letter in which the former president's son John F. Kennedy Jr. — who died in a plane crash in 1999 — once called former President Joe Biden a "traitor." "Did JFK Jr. warn us that Joe Biden was a traitor to America before he was killed!?" read one post (archived) on X with nearly 10 million views. The screenshot of a document also circulated on other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads, YouTube, iFunny and 9GAG. However, there was no evidence that John F. Kennedy Jr. authored a letter calling Biden a traitor. While the FBI did investigate a threatening letter sent to Biden — then a U.S. senator — signed "John F. Kennedy, Jr.," the agency did not identify the actual author, nor did it indicate that Kennedy wrote it. Furthermore, contrary to claims made in viral posts, the document in question was actually released in 2000, decades before the March 2025 release of JFK assassination files. We found no evidence or indication that it was included in that 2025 release. The letter originated from an FBI file The Associated Press obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2000. A June 20, 2000, Associated Press article, available through the Los Angeles Times archives, reported that the FBI records showed John F. Kennedy Jr. faced at least three kidnapping threats, with two plots investigated in 1985 and 1995. One FBI report focused on a letter postmarked Aug. 26, 1994, that was sent to Biden. According to the article, "The handwriting was analyzed. Fingerprints were lifted from the letter. But no suspects were identified, and the case was closed at the end of 1994." The topic was also covered at the time by CBS News. The letter was part of a file (from Page 153) shared on The Vault, the FBI's electronic FOIA library, which provides public access to a vast collection of declassified FBI documents. Specifically, the letter was featured on Page 155: (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) It included a reference line that read: "UNSUB; AKA JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR.; SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN – VICTIM; WORCESTER, MA; AUGUST 26, 1994." The use of "UNSUB," meaning unknown subject, and "aka John F. Kennedy, Jr." indicated that the sender's identity was not confirmed, and the name was likely used as an alias. (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) The document also noted that the letter bore a handwritten or hand-printed address reading: "Sen. Joseph Biden, (D.-Delaware) U.S. Capitol Building U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20515." The letter itself was dated Aug. 26, 1994, began with the line "Dear Sen. Biden: You are a traitor …," and was signed "John F. Kennedy Jr." In the "Remarks" section on Page 162, the document said the envelope and letter were "searched in the appropriate sections of the Anonymous Letter File without effecting an identification," indicating that investigators were unable to determine who had sent it. (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) Moreover, on Page 179, the document noted that "although four latent fingerprints were developed by the laboratory, there are no suspects at this time wherein latent comparisons can be made," indicating that investigators had no identified suspect to compare the prints against. (FBI's electronic FOIA Library) Other fact-checking organizations, including LeadStories, Agence France-Presse and PolitiFact, also have debunked this claim in the past. Steven Gillon, a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and the author of a biography of John F. Kennedy Jr., told AFP in March 2025 that it "absolutely it is a hoax," adding: "John never wrote that letter. But that does not stop the conspiracy nuts from waving it around to undermine Biden's credibility." Similarly, in 2020, Gillon told PolitiFact that "the FBI dismissed [the letter] as a hoax" and "they did not believe that John wrote it." We've investigated other claims regarding John F. Kennedy Jr., including a rumor that he wrote in 1999 that Donald Trump "would be an unstoppable force for ultimate justice" and that he was a front-runner for a U.S. Senate seat from New York shortly before his death. Czopek, Madison. "JFK Jr. Didn't Write That Joe Biden Was 'a Traitor.'" @politifact, Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. "Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." The White House, 23 Jan. 2025, Definition of UNSUB. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. Evon, Dan. "Did JFK Jr. Write in 1999 That Trump 'Would Be an Unstoppable Force for Ultimate Justice'?" Snopes, 23 July 2018, Fact Check: FBI File Does NOT Suggest 1994 Threat Letter To Joe Biden Was Written By JFK Jr. | Lead Stories. 23 Dec. 2022, FBI Reveals 3 Kidnap Threats on JFK Jr. | The Seattle Times. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. "JFK Assassination Records - 2025 Documents Release." National Archives, 17 Mar. 2025, "Joe Biden Named in JFK Files: What to Know." Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025, McCarthy, Bill. "No Proof Biden Plotted Kidnapping of JFK Jr." @politifact, Accessed 27 Mar. 2025. Palma, Bethania. "FACT CHECK: Was JFK Jr. a U.S. Senate Frontrunner Before His 'Suspicious' Plane Crash?" Snopes, 29 Aug. 2016, staff, CBSNews com staff CBSNews com. FBI: Kidnap Plots Were Set For JFK Jr. - CBS News. 20 June 2000, ---. FBI: Kidnap Plots Were Set For JFK Jr. - CBS News. 20 June 2000, ---. FBI: Kidnap Plots Were Set For JFK Jr. - CBS News. 20 June 2000,
