Bad news for international students: These universities have been affected by Trump’s funding cuts

The White House is attacking institutions of higher education, accusing these universities of teaching dangerous ideologies. The attacks on universities mirror similar paths taken by facisit movements of the past, including Nazi Germany, which aimed to rid the institutions of those with views that did not align with the government of Adolf Hitler.

The universities that have been targeted

Harvard University took a stand against these attacks last week by refusing to comply with demands from the White House, losing billions of dollars in federal funding, and placing even more at risk. One of the demands that made it impossible for university leaders to accept was to allow an administration official to audit the course catalog to cut out aspects of the educational program that were determined to be inappropriate.

Harvard is far from the only institution to face these demands, with the federal government threatening to cut funding. Other affected universities include Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern University, Brown University, Columbia University, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania. In early March, the president announced that federal funding would be suspended for universities that “allow unlawful protests.”

“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” wrote President Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social. He also stated that American students would be “permanently expelled” and could face arrest, and that “agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.”

The federal government has justified the move to freeze Harvard’s funding by accusing the university leadership of failing to deal with anti-semitism and protect Jewish students adequately. Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, who is Jewish, responded in a public letter earlier this week and stated that he saw the moves by the government as a way to destroy the institution’s independence.

International students targeted for campus activism

Pro-Palestinian student protestors on educational visas, and even some Green Card holders, have had their legal immigration status revoked, have been arrested, and now face deportation. These stories and the videos of these arrests have horrified the public, many of whom believe that international students have the same rights to free speech that citizens have.

The Trump administration is also continuing its crackdown on international students in the United States. In recent weeks, the Department of State (DOS) has revoked more than 300 student visas, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In addition, thousands of students had seen their immigration records revoked, which amounts to the cancellation of visas.

Visa cancellations have occurred at various institutions across the country, with a significant number of recent cases reported in the Sun Belt states. Multiple reports indicate that several schools in the South have experienced visa revocations and changes in immigration status for some of their exchange students. Notably, Florida International University saw the revocation of F-1 student visas for 18 students. Similarly, Texas reported the cancellation of 23 international students in the Federal Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which is the federal system that tracks exchange students. These students had their immigration records revoked, which is the mechanism by which the government cancels visas.

On Friday, April 25, NBC News reported that thousands of students whose education visas had been revoked were able to have them reinstated. However, not all students received reinstatement, leaving different groups among those affected uncertain about their immigration status and the criteria that determined who might still face challenges.

Some universities are fighting back

Hundreds of university presidents and other officials signed a letter protesting the freeze in federal funding and the Trump administration’s intervention. Among them were the presidents and deans of universities such as Brown, Princeton, Columbia, the University of Hawaii, and Harvard, who even filed a lawsuit against the government.

“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion into the lives of those who study, live, and work on our campuses,” the document states.

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