By EMEWODESH ESHETE
International college students are learning that speech isn’t as free as they thought in the United States. After President Donald Trump began his second term, hundreds of international students lost their student status as part of an executive order cracking down on immigration and alleged antisemitism.
While lawsuits resulted in many of those students having their status reinstated since April, the uncertainty of it happening again has created fear among international students, particularly within the University of California system, where international students make up 13.6% of student enrollment as of Fall 2024.
Some international students told CalMatters they have changed their involvement in campus activities, from the routes they take on campus to avoid free speech areas, to the topics they include in their research projects, to scrubbing their social media posts and limiting their political activism.
The fear began spreading in late January, when the White House released a fact sheet about Trump’s Executive Order 14188, “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” stating, “resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you.” Additionally, it mentioned cancelling visas of “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses.
Since then, there have been a few high-profile arrests of international students, including Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University, a legal permanent resident who was involved in leading pro-Palestinian protests, and Rümeysa Öztürk at Tufts University, a Turkish national who co-wrote an op-ed asking her university to divest. Khalil has since been released on bail and Öztürk was released by order of a federal judge. Still, these detentions have triggered concerns among international students about how their actions could be used against them.
Additionally, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced the U.S. would start “aggressively” revoking Chinese student visas, more specifically, those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in fields that are considered “critical.”
Federal officials haven’t released any information about how many international students had their status revoked, or which campuses they attend. However, Inside Higher Ed compiled news reports of more than 1,800 students nationwide, including over 200 in California, whose status were revoked in the spring.
CalMatters reached out to all 10 UC campuses inquiring about the number of international students who have had their statuses reinstated, but only two responded. As of April 28, UC San Diego’s 35 terminated student visas had been reactivated, and one student was deported. At UC Santa Barbara, 11 of the 12 visas had been reinstated, though the “situation remains fluid,” said Media Relations Manager Kiki Reyes.
International students are chilling their speech
None of the international students interviewed for this story wanted their names or areas of study published due to fears of being identified and having their status revoked for speaking publicly.
At UC Berkeley, a sophomore told CalMatters that she was involved in campus activism for about a year and a half until about March, when she saw international students losing their visas and heard rumors of immigration enforcement agents on campus. Her thoughts on protesting have changed drastically. “Everything I say can be used against me,” she said. She has been coming up with creative ways to be involved while trying to keep herself and other international students safe. For example, she participates in student club meetings, where she feels she can speak more privately.
“I came to the United States because those are things that I wasn’t comfortable doing in my country,” the sophomore said. “I wasn’t comfortable speaking out. It was like a dictatorship, and that’s why I came to America, which is, like, where the freedom is supposed to be. And then I got met with this. It’s really, really disappointing.”