The Takeaways
- Universities’ Warnings: Many universities such as UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco, and Brown have advised international students to avoid or reconsider travel due to potential immigration issues.
- Student Anxiety: Over 1 million international students in the U.S. are facing uncertainty and fear regarding travel restrictions and their student visas.
- Impact on Daily Life: Students, like a 21-year-old from Columbia, report significant impacts on their lives due to these policies.
The Details:
Universities across the country are warning their international students against traveling overseas this spring break- out of fear they may not be allowed to return.
A spokesman for UC Berkeley told The San Francisco Standard it warned “students from select countries to avoid travel at this time” given the uncertainty and crackdown on immigration by the Trump administration.
The University of San Francisco issued similar guidance.
“We encourage students to reconsider travel over the next few weeks while we gain a clearer understanding of how these policies will affect them,” it said.
USA Today reports that Brown University went so far as to advise students to postpone international travel. This happened after a doctor at Brown returning to the U.S. from international travel had her visa canceled.
“We understand that many in our community are feeling a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety as news media share reports of federal deportation actions against individuals who are non U.S. citizens,” Russell C. Carey, an executive vice president at Brown, said in an email.
There are currently more than 1 million international students in the U.S. The potential restrictions on traveling home to see family or threats to their student visas and their ability to graduate are striking fear in some.
“It’s 100% affecting almost every aspect of my life right now, honestly, and that’s not coming from a dramatic place – there are real consequences,” a 21-year-old student at Columbia said who declined to give his name out of fear for his future.
As AsAmNews has been reporting, numerous international students have been targeted for political views that Trump administration considers a violation of their student visas.
These incidents are only adding to the growing apprehension.
“We’re living in an unprecedented and dangerous moment where the executive branch is testing the bounds of its power without regard to and in some cases in willful disregard to the system of checks and balances that is set up by the U.S. Constitution,” said Elora Mukherjee, a law professor at Columbia.
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