Universities across the United States warned international students to return to campus before Trump’s second presidential term began, fearing a repeat of his first administration’s sweeping travel ban on Muslim countries. Although nothing of such magnitude has occurred so far, there remains concern and uncertainty for both international students and faculty over their rights and ability to stay in the U.S., including at the University of Connecticut.
According to data pertaining to the Fall 2024 semester, there are 3,153 international students enrolled at UConn in undergraduate, graduate and other programs. Most of these students have received F-1 or M-1 visas that allow them to remain in the U.S. for the purpose of receiving a degree from a university. The number of international students in the U.S. reached its highest peak ever from 2023 to 2024, as more than 1.1 million enrolled in colleges and universities, making up 6% of the higher education student body. India and China are the countries most represented by these students, a fact which also holds true for UConn’s numbers.
During the first Trump presidency, immigration to the U.S. was curtailed and visa processes were made more difficult. One of the foremost examples of this crackdown was the 2017 travel ban, which was put into effect shortly after Trump assumed office and restricted immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. As a result, many international students hailing from those nations were trapped abroad, unable to return to the U.S or uncertain as to whether they would be able to travel back. Later on in Trump’s first term, amid the early months of the pandemic, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) put measures in place that further restricted international students on visas whose colleges went online for the fall 2020 semester, ordering them to “depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status.” The guidance went on to emphasize that failing to comply may result in “the initiation of removal proceedings.” UConn’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion released a statement criticizing the move in July 2020, arguing that the “draconian measures have little to do with public health.”
In the wake of Trump’s 2024 election win, higher education has looked back to his previous term with unease, fearing similar policies that impact international students and faculty could be enacted. Sercan Canbolat, an adjunct professor at UConn and a native of Turkey, spoke to the news outlet Axios before Trump assumed office last January, saying he wouldn’t return to his country to see his family for the next four years due to uncertainty over immigration. At the same time, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), an organization which promotes academic freedom in higher education, issued
guidance reminding faculty members that “are not U.S. citizens” do not have “affirmative rights to re-entry.”
The most pressing part of the issue for international students may be a Trump administration executive order signed on Jan. 30 proclaiming that visas would be canceled for any “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses. The order directed colleges to “report activities by alien students and staff” that may be considered antisemitic, opening them up to investigation and even deportation. The president also had a message for “any resident aliens who participated in pro-jihadist protests,” saying that the government would “find” and “deport” them.
The action could have wide-ranging effects and implicate any international student who participated in pro-Palestinian activity or protests, which rocked college campuses last spring and sparked standoffs between students and police. Many of these encounters resulted in arrests, including at UConn, where 25 students were detained on April 30 of last year after refusing to take down an encampment protesting the school’s financial ties to military contractors and the state of Israel on university property. Republican politicians were harshly critical of the protests, and Trump’s latest move aims to prosecute the students most vulnerable to having their rights stripped away. Coupled with another government directive that allows ICE to conduct immigration raids on college campuses, the new climate of suspicion towards international students puts them at significant risk.
As of now, UConn has not released updated guidance for students on visas who may be threatened by the current administration’s orders. However, President Radenka Maric and Provost Anne D’Alleva issued a statement via UConn Today on affirming the university’s previous policy, which outlines that “UConn Police will not detain or make arrests solely pursuant to an ICE detainer.” Given the latest hostility from the federal government toward foreign students, this guidance does not go far enough if any pro-Palestinian protestors who are on visas face the prospect of deportation. Betar US, a Zionist organization, recently compiled a list of more than 100 “pro-Hamas” international students and faculty and sent it to Trump. Faced with the dangerous implications of an ideological crackdown, UConn should offer more assistance and support to the international community of students and staff who reside, work and study on its campuses.