For her summer internship, Hadija Mahmoud* is pulling an all-nighter that is high on caffeine and adrenaline. She needs to board the train in Washington, DC to New York City in the morning to get there.
Mahmoud is a 21-year old international student who has just finished her junior year at Georgetown University. She is concerned and anxious after her immigration attorney advised her against leaving the country for the summer due to recent border control regulations.
As the Trump administration attempts to expand social media screenings for applicants, the State Department issued a warning on May 27 to U.S. embassies all over the world to temporarily halt scheduling new student visa appointments. This is the latest in a line of restrictions targeted at international students.
“It’s been very turbulent, and equally terrifying with each development that comes”, Mahmoud told Al Jazeera, speaking from her college dormitory in Washington, DC.
Mahmoud is not the only person who feels this way. Many other international students feel as though they must remain silent because they fear that even a minor mistake could lead to their deportation.
1.1 million international students
According to NAFSA, a US nonprofit organisation that focuses on international education and student exchange, over the 2023/2024 academic year there were just more than 1.1 million international students studying in the US.
5.6% of the nearly 19 million total US higher education students were from abroad, making up 5.6%.
Together, students from India and China made up 54 percent of the total, with India leading at 331, 602 (29 percent) and China at 277, 398 (25 percent).
“Sorry for the United States,”
Fanta Aw, the executive director and CEO of NAFSA, who is a former international student herself, says she is aware of how crucial cultural exchange between local students and local communities is in today’s increasingly connected world.
“I think this is a major loss for the United States, other countries will open their doors and they are already welcoming students”, Aw told Al Jazeera.
“Students want certainty,” the statement. They desire consistency. And they want to know that the system works. And they already lose trust if they keep seeing action after action, she adds.
You will have years to recover from this and possibly never recover from it if you continue down this path. Because by then, more other countries are competing for these same students”.
“We are seeing Germany,” Japan is what we see. We’re seeing South Korea. Malaysia has always been a student destination. With all the universities in the American style, the US is in competition with in the Middle East.
Where are international students studying?
A sizable number of international students study at prestigious universities in the Midwest and other US states, despite the presence of many of them concentrated on the East and West coasts.
The most international students from New York City were 27, 247 at New York University, and 20, 321 at Columbia University, according to data compiled by Open Doors during the academic year 2023/2024. Northeastern University in Boston follows, with 21, 023 international students.
Noor Ali*, a 23-year-old Pakistani student who is pursuing her master’s degree in journalism on a full scholarship from the university, is one of those students heading to the Midwest.
Ali has requested that Ali’s institution be kept secret and her identity kept secret for security reasons. Despite having already received her student visa, she’s still concerned about entering the US.
She explains how she flew out that day when both nuclear neighbors were engaged in a face-off far above the surface and that India had obtained her visa the day after India attacked Pakistan and Pakistan retaliated against India.
“Miraculously, the appointment was not canceled,” he said. And I ended up going there for my interview. And I ended up getting the visa, which was insane. I had no idea where I came from. But I mean, I’ve gotten it now”! Ali beams and is unconcerned by her luck.
She chose the US because of her familiarity with the nation through movies and TV shows, even though she had the option to study in Europe. Even without having visited, she feels like she understands American life and culture.
These principles of American democracy refer to American freedom. And there was a lot of emphasis on ethics and morality, which was popular in the past and a lot of emphasis was placed on diversity.
Ali’s ideals are not without scepticism or worry. She has repeatedly reevaluate her choice after admitting to being extremely scared. She continues to find encouragement in the recent criticism of the Trump administration’s policies.
“The core of American democracy or ideals of freedom are getting reinforced”, says Ali. She believes unwaveringly that the cultural immersion will be worthwhile for her.
crackdown on pro-Palestine faculty and students
The Trump administration’s latest step in its crackdown on US universities has particularly focused on international students who have shown support for Palestinians in Gaza over the past year.
You’d think that because Georgetown has a sizable international student population in comparison to other US schools, there will be a lot more advocacy and grassroots work happening on campus, according to Mahmoud.
Mahmoud feels her college hasn’t been a very vocal campus when it comes to the rights of students, nor in providing a proper safety net for freedom of speech.
“Dr. Badar Suri’s detention on campus, in my opinion, was a significant turning point. I felt the need to look through my social media to see if anything I posted might have led to my flagging,” says Mahmoud.
Following a federal judge’s order, Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral researcher of conflict studies, was detained on March 17 outside his Rosslyn, Virginia, home, and held in immigration detention for two months. He was then released on May 14. Suri has spoken out against Israel’s occupation of Gaza, whose wife Mapheze Saleh is of Palestinian descent in the US.
That particular case became a real turning point on the campus, she says, where a lot of international students had spoken up and taken to social media.
What is the stakes?
According to NAFSA, the 1.1 million international students studying in the US contributed $43.8bn to the US economy during the 2023–2024 academic year, creating 378,175 jobs nationwide.
That means that for every three international students enrolled, one US job was created or supported.
California’s population had the highest number of foreign students, with 140, 858 contributing to the state’s economy and supporting 55, 114 jobs. New York followed with 135 813 students, creating 51 719 jobs, and generating $6.3 billion. Texas came third, with 89, 546 international students contributing $2.5bn and supporting 22, 112 jobs.
12 states each received more than $ 1 billion from international students’ economic contributions overall. NAFSA estimates that the US economy is boosted by international student spending in these 12 states, contributing 57 percent to the overall budget.
“When your enrolment declines, then you’re going to have some economic challenges and that’s going to force institutions to have to make some very difficult decisions and choices”, NAFSA executive director Fanta Aw explains.
In most of the nation, there is a decline in the number of high school graduates. Because that is already declining, it’s not like they can match that with American domestic students.
“So when you cannot have the level of enrollment at the undergraduate level here in the US and that is then compounded with the decline in international students, that’s a perfect storm”.
Aw claims that many foreign students who return to their home countries make tax-free contributions to their countries.
What subjects are studied by foreign students?
In the 2023-2024 academic year, among the 1.1 million students, the most popular majors were Math and Computer Science, Engineering, and Business and Management.
2, 691 of the 371. 3 million dollars that were contributed by international students to English language programs were supported by this job.
In terms of degrees, nearly half (502, 000) of all international students were registered for postgraduate programmes, 343, 000 in undergraduate programmes, 243, 000 in Optional Practical Training (OPT), and 39, 000 in non-degree programmes.
Source: Aljazeera
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