Visa crackdown leads international students in the US to reconsider summer travel
Source: AP
Updated 12:06 AM EDT, May 4, 2025
On summer break from a Ph.D. program, an international student at University of California, San Diego, was planning a trip with a few friends to Hawaii. But after seeing international students across the United States stripped of their legal status, the student decided against it.
Any travel, even inside the U.S., just didn’t seem worth the risk. “I probably am going to skip that to ... have as few interactions with governments as possible,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being targeted. International students weighing travel to see family, take a vacation or conduct research are thinking twice because of the Trump administration’s crackdown, which has added to a sense of vulnerability.
Even before students suddenly began losing permission to study in the U.S., some colleges were encouraging international students and faculty to postpone travel, citing government efforts to deport students involved in pro-Palestinian activism. As the scale of the status terminations emerged in recent weeks, more schools have cautioned against non-essential travel abroad for international students.
University of California, Berkeley, for one, issued an advisory last week saying upcoming international travel was risky due to “strict vetting and enforcement.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/international-students-visa-f1-travel-sevis-trump-3458f226541c08a693182798287bc8d7