As an international student at USC who had not been home for a year, Kevin Lu was excited to return to his parents in the Chinese city of Shenzhen over winter break.
But as newly elected President Donald Trump’s inauguration approached on January 20, he changed his mind and chose to remain in Los Angeles.
“It’s too risky,” said Lu, a senior majoring in finance. Lu cited Trump’s aggressive stance on China, his first term’s restrictions on Chinese student visas for scientists as posing a “security threat,” and vowed to sign a new travel ban like the one nearly eight years ago that would many students with a visa were stuck in China. airports.
“You don’t know what’s next,” Lu said.
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At USC, where more than a quarter of the 47,000 students are internationals, many are struggling — with some changing their travel plans at the last minute and others reconsidering their job searches after graduating in the U.S. — as they wait for a new administration that has sent mixed signals about his interest in foreign students and workers.
The university is warning foreigners to follow in Lu’s footsteps by skipping or ending short trips outside the U.S. after finals end next week.
“A new presidential administration will take office on January 20, 2025 and – as usual – issue one or more executive orders affecting US travel and visa processing. While there is no certainty that such orders will be issued, the safest way to avoid any challenges is to be physically present in the U.S. before the spring semester begins on January 13, 2025,” according to a letter released by the USC Office of International Services this month.
Protesters gather at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in San Diego in June 2018 against then-President Trump’s travel ban. (Hayne Palmour IV/San Diego Union-Tribune)
During his first term, Trump’s travel restrictions affected several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran and Iraq. The Supreme Court ruled that the bans were legal. Outside the courtroom, immigration experts said the bans were based on limited and sometimes misleading data on security screening of American visitors, immigrants and refugees.
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This time he has said he will impose a new travel and refugee ban on “Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security.”
He said he continues to view China as an economic and security rival and will impose tariffs on imports. At the same time, his campaign included promises to “automatically” give green cards, which is permanent residency, to foreigners who graduate from U.S. universities — but he said the group would be limited after vetting to retain only the “most skilled graduates.”
USC is not the only one issuing advice. The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Office of Global Affairs recently issued a similar message that international students should return to the country “out of an abundance of caution” before the inauguration. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wesleyan University also released a similar message.
Pragya Bhatt, a USC sophomore from Bangalore, India, said the university advice brought into sharper focus the concerns she already felt after the election.
“I’m not immediately worried about my own situation because I have a valid visa, am on a home visit during the break and already had a ticket to be back here on January 13,” says Bhatt, who studies communication and cognitive sciences studies. “But I really wonder how friendly the US is in general to people like me. I still have time before I graduate, but I’m wondering if I should even consider staying in America afterward.”
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Niels W. Frenzen, a professor at the USC Gould School of Law and co-director of the school’s immigration clinic, said he has seen a rapid increase in questions from students about what the coming Trump term means for their immigration status.
“We have been holding know-your-rights sessions and many students have come in for individual sessions just to check in, even if their paperwork is all in order,” said Frenzen, whose clinic recently hosted a workshop on immigration hurdles before White . House changes. The initial travel ban targeted Muslim-majority countries, but its revised version, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, included two more countries: Venezuela and North Korea.
“It’s not just people who are international students who are less likely to encounter problems, but that was certainly the case during the early part of Trump’s first presidency, during the Muslim ban,” Frenzen said. Concerns are also growing from “undocumented students who come from mixed backgrounds.” [immigration] Families with status status or who are ‘DACA-mented,'” Frenzen said, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that allows those who came to the U.S. as children without legal permission to legally stay and work in the country .
Jihwan Lee, a USC student from South Korea, said the concern among internationals he knows depends on their home country’s relationship with the U.S.
“Personally, I have no immediate concerns about possible travel restrictions. I’ll be staying here during the break anyway, and even if I were to leave the US, I believe South Korean citizens would not be affected by such travel restrictions. said Lee, who is pursuing a PhD. South Korea is a strong ally of the US.
“I don’t think there will be such travel restrictions or visa problems for, for example, citizens of the European Union or pro-American East Asian countries,” Lee said.
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Annabelle Layt, a USC senior from Australia, also said she was less concerned because of her background.
“I’m in my fourth year, so when it comes to the visas and documents required to enter and leave the country, I know the trick,” says Layt, a business major. She said she decided months ago to skip a winter holiday home near Brisbane to save money.
“But it is very difficult to know what will happen. Will Trump be better or worse for international students?”
Some USC students and professors interviewed said they did not expect major changes or did not hear students’ concerns.
“My group is almost 100% international and we have always had to deal with visa problems,” says Anna Krylov, a chemistry professor at USC, many of whose teachers are international students. “For example, two graduate students who joined my group this year lost an entire year of study because it took them more than a year to get their student visas.”
A longtime professor, she said she has seen similar stories over the past decade under Presidents Biden, Trump and Obama.
“In other cases, I left my students and postdocs stranded abroad for weeks and sometimes months, waiting for a visa extension,” Krylov said. “Our classes start on January 13th, so I expect everyone to be back before that date.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
