Has Trump Dampened Demand for Student Visas?
Maybe, but so far only for Muslim-majority nations; and a reduction in foreign students overall would likely be beneficial, in any case
By George Fishman on May 22, 2025
Ihave written in The Hill that much of the celebration of Hamas’s October 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians took place on American college campuses by foreign students. I noted that Congress has provided DHS with powerful tools to remove noncitizen immigrants who support terrorism or incite genocide and that the Trump administration “should continue — must continue — its efforts to seek the removal of [aliens] who celebrate the killing of innocent people”.
Trump administration policies regarding foreign students, such as these removal efforts, have raised alarm bells at American colleges and universities. To take one example, Kirk Carapezza reported on May 13 for Boston's public broadcasting site WGBH that “people who work in higher ed” say that the foreign student “pipeline may be drying up” because of “the policies of President Trump’s second administration”.
Carapezza explains that:
Since Trump’s return to office, his administration has revoked more than a thousand student visas, often without explanation. The government has since said it will restore some international students’ status, but other student activists have been detained and even face deportation.
[Gerardo Blanco, who heads Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education] warns Trump’s approach — combined with federal funding cuts — is putting U.S. colleges at risk of losing a generation of global talent.
https://cis.org/Fishman/Has-Trump-Dampened-Demand-Student-Visas
