Trump’s Nightmare Assault on Dreams: Unprecedented Anti-Immigrant Attack on College Students Destroys Futures, Undermines U.S. Stature

The Trump administration’s attacks leave many international students wondering whether a higher education in the U.S. is worth the risk.

What should be a time of celebration and hope for graduating students and their loved ones is instead a time of dread and chaos under the anti-immigrant obsessions of the Trump administration. 

Shrey Gupta, an international student from India, should be feeling on top of the world after graduating from the University of Southern California (USC) with a degree in finance. But he was recently detained for several hours after returning back to the U.S. from a trip, leaving him anxious about his future here, KCAL News reports. Dori Bognar, an international student from Hungary, isn’t sure she’ll be able to finish her studies at USC at all. 

"I don't think I can come back with the same visa," Bognar told KCAL News. "If I go home to Hungary over the summer, I won't be able to come back." 

They aren’t alone in feeling the brutal impact of weaponizing the immigration system to stifle free speech and punish views that the Trump administration simply doesn’t like. In recent weeks, the administration has targeted the legal status of at least 1,800 students across nearly 300 colleges and universities, Inside Higher Ed said. Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University student from Turkey, was abducted in broad daylight at the behest of Secretary of State Marco Rubio over an op-ed. She was finally freed by a federal judge after six weeks in ICE custody. 

“In the last 45 days, I lost both my freedom and also my education during a crucial time for my doctoral studies,” she said. Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, also targeted over his views, was only able to receive his diploma because of the courts. The judge who ordered his release from ICE custody “likened the government’s actions to McCarthyist repression”:

At Harvard University, the Trump administration has sought to block the school from enrolling international students altogether, leaving prospective students wondering whether seeking a higher education in the United States – formerly a top destination for the best and brightest from around the world – is still even worth it. Already, schools in Germany and Hong Kong have been looking to “lure students exiled from Harvard,” Bloomberg reported.

“Duo Yi, who was admitted to the public policy doctoral program at Harvard Kennedy School, said she is now exploring other options amid growing uncertainty about her enrolment [sic],” NBC News reports. “Trump is ‘simply too unpredictable,’ she said. ‘I have no way of knowing what direction his future policies will take.’” More than a quarter of students at the school are foreign-born, the report said.

These impacts are being felt “beyond the Ivy League,” the Barn Raiser newsletter reports. Foreign students “have also been targeted at smaller, rural universities and colleges, like Minnesota State Mankato,” not only disrupting their studies, but the local economy as well. More than one million international students study across the nation, hailing from just about every nation in the world.

“Many rural colleges and universities have had a long history of welcoming international students and can have [a] large international student population relative to the entire student body,” the Barn Raiser said. “At the local level, many community leaders recognize the benefit international students can bring to economically depressed rural areas. Many of these communities face a shortage of young people, as a younger generation looks for job opportunities in larger metropolitan areas.” 

According to a recent policy brief from FWD.us, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 school year alone and are critical to our continued growth and standing in the world. Their enrollment hugely benefits their U.S.-born peers as well, the brief noted, meaning that when the administration targets foreign-born students, it also attacks American students.

“With most international students paying full tuition, their enrollment has important financial benefits to their institutions and the maintenance of key programs, centers, and benefits that all students rely on,” the brief said. “A 2015 study found that international students contributed $9 billion to public universities, 28% of their overall total revenue, which allows schools to increase domestic student enrollment.”

While 19-year-old Ximena Arias-Cristobal wasn’t born here, she’s American in every way but on a piece of paper, having called the U.S. her home since she was just four. But the Georgia Dreamer and TheDream.US National Scholar now faces deportation after being pulled over for what police initially claimed was a traffic violation. “I cannot go to jail,” the college freshman pleaded to the officer. “I have my finals next week. My family depends on this.” While local authorities dismissed the traffic charges against her after the police department admitted it targeted the wrong vehicle, she was forced to spend two weeks in ICE custody and still faces deportation from the only country she’s known as home.

"They had me in a room by myself for nine hours. I didn't know what was going on. It was never explained," she said after a federal judge ordered her release. “Being in Stewart [Detention Center] changed my life. It's something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It's life-changing.” 

The budget recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, under cover of darkness late last week, includes an unprecedented $175 billion in taxpayer dollars to turbocharge mass deportation – including  these sort of senseless acts – while gutting healthcare and food assistance for vulnerable Americans. It’s also worth remembering that Project 2025 promised a full-out assault on education, including higher education, under a second Trump administration. We’re now seeing that agenda – and added cruelty – in action, at detriment to young people and their dreams, our businesses and economy, and our standing in the world.

"Graduation should be a time of celebration and hope, not fear and dread,” said America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. “The Trump Administration is trampling dreams and erasing the future with its deliberate targeting of young people – Dreamers and U.S. citizens alike – who are simply trying to better their lives and improve America.”