When the trees begin to turn green in the early days of spring, there’s usually a buzz of excited activity in anticipation of warmer days in New York City. But, this year, many international students were racked with uncertainty as they anxiously checked the news and their emails, waiting to find out if they would be able to see their families this summer.
TIME Magazine called Donald Trump’s first one hundred days in office one of “the most destabilizing in American history.” In addition to an overhaul of the federal government, a never-ending list of executive orders, and repeated threats of multiple international tariffs, one of the Trump administration’s main focuses was a crackdown on immigration, illegal or otherwise. On March 10, 2025, Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student and green card holder, was arrested by ICE, seemingly because he was a publicly pro-Palestinian activist. Throughout March and April, students watched in horror as videos on social media showed international students being detained around the country.
Downtown at New York University, this arrest terrified international students who feared that they could be next. For one, whom we’ll call Julia to protect her anonymity, the emotional rollercoaster weighed on her as she debated whether to purchase flights back home to India. Julia moved to New York City to attend NYU for a two-year program, and she hadn’t been able to see her friends and family back home since the winter break. The dilemma she faced was agonizing: go home and risk the possibility of not being allowed back into the United States on her student visa, or stay in New York, knowing that she might not get the chance to see her loved ones for another six months — or even another year, when she finishes her program.
“It might have been fine,” she told me as she reflected on the decision. “I’ve personally never had a bad experience with immigration officers coming into the US.” But, for Julia, even the smallest possibility of not being able to return was not worth it. Apart from seeing her loved ones, Julia was hoping to save some money by subletting the room in her apartment for the summer. Julia’s rent in Brooklyn for the three months of summer cost much more than the round-trip flight to India. “I’m not doing much here […] so I feel like I’m missing out on life back home,” she said.
On May 27, the State Department announced that it would suspend visa interviews for foreign students. Another student, whom we will call Anna, balked when she read the headline. It was too late for her; she had already left the US for the summer and was back home in the Netherlands. Like Julia, Anna had also worried throughout the spring whether going home would be a good idea. At the time, she thought that she had to go back to the Netherlands to renew her visa, which would expire at the end of the academic year (it was only after she had left that she realized she could request a DS-2019 — a Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor (J-1) Status — from within the US). She figured that, as a European student, she had less to worry about than students who were from countries from which the federal government is restricting immigration. And her first year in New York had been mentally taxing, especially given the political turmoil: “I just really wanted to be home around family.”
But when she found out about visa interviews being paused, Anna was gripped with fear. What if the government paused interviews for so long that she couldn’t make it back in time for school? What if some new executive order pops up over the summer that restricts her from coming back at all? Anna has been plagued by these questions throughout the summer, even though she tries her best to make the most of the time she has with her friends and family at home.
“I put so much effort into coming to the US for this program, and invested so much financially so I could build my career by having this degree,” she told me. The idea that she could not be able to return is difficult to swallow.
For Anna and Julia, staying in the U.S. after their programs was never really part of the plan, but they had both considered it when they committed to NYU. But now, even the possibility of staying not only seems far-fetched, but unattractive. “I kind of feel like, if they don’t want me, fine,” Anna said about the American government. It’s a shame, Anna noted, because she believes that everyone can take away a lot from studying internationally. “There’s real value for students in going around the world and learning about different cultures.”
In June, the federal government’s attack on international students has only ramped up. Sen. Rick Scott’s American Students First Act proposes that all American universities cap foreign students to 10 to 15% of the total student population, and while student visa interviews have been resumed, the State Department will begin screening interviewees’ social media accounts for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States.” Anna isn’t a very active social media user, so she is not too worried about this new policy affecting her, but she is afraid of what could come next, given the volatile, lightning speed at which the U.S. government is restricting foreign students.
“I miss home every day.” Julia told me. In an attempt to find some connection to India, she’s been going to Little India in Jackson Heights nearly every day this summer, in search of ingredients to make the food she could have had back home.
Editor’s note: Because of the present risks for international students associated with criticizing the Trump Administration and its policies, we’re granting the two students interviewed in this story anonymity to protect them from potential retribution.
