The federal government announced last week that it would restore the records of some number of international college and university students who are studying in the U.S.
The Trump Administration had previously canceled the records in a database called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, which allows federal authorities to keep tabs on international students while they’re in the country, including any criminal charges that are brought against them.
Prior to the government’s reversal, judges around the country had already ordered students’ records to be restored. Part of the issue is that it appears to be unclear if a student whose record has been canceled is allowed to be in the country.
Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration — an alliance of nearly 600 college and university presidents and chancellors around the country, including some in Arizona, joined The Show to discuss what’s going on right now with regards to immigration and how it’s impacting university leaders and their institutions.
This conversation happened before the feds announced they’d restore student records.
Full conversation
MIRIAM FELDBLUM: This is a very significant time for institutions. So this is a time of the year when institutions are working to recruit international students for the coming year. They're working to support their students, those who are near graduation, those who may be in their first or second years, and so this is a time when institutions are working to support and recruit international students.
What we see happening is recent immigration enforcement operations, as well as the unilateral SEVIS student record terminations that are impacting thousands of students from across the country, hundreds of colleges, and it's happening in a way that is sudden without notification to the institutions, without verifying what the information is, and what that has done is that it has upended regular processes in colleges and universities.
MARK BRODIE: Does that mean that some of those schools are not able to provide the kinds of support you're talking about to students because sort of their focus is elsewhere?
FELDBLUM: Exactly, I think there are two things going on here. One, for students, it has created an environment of fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. And they're looking for answers. And at the same time, campuses don't have the answers because these are not usual processes. So campuses are unable to answer so many of the questions that their current students or existing students have. And at the same time, they're also working to support them in all their regular academic concerns and looking to recruit the next class.
BRODIE: Yes, so what does all that uncertainty mean for students, not just as they're finishing their school year and maybe in some cases finishing their college careers, but what does it mean for them sort of more broadly?
FELDBLUM: I think this creates a lot of questions in students' minds. So if you are uncertain if you're gonna be able to finish your college career, if you're gonna be unable to actually participate in what's called optional practical training post graduation. That can actually mean, should I stay in the United States. So we have certainly heard from a number of institutions where students faced with what they have seen happening in which their own records have been terminated for reasons that they don't understand, they've left the country.
And whilst institutions are working to support those students to finish out the year, this is a loss for the students, and it's a loss for the college and the community because now we have lost that student's potential.
BRODIE: So do you think that we are going to see, maybe even as early as this upcoming fall when the new school year starts, that American universities will have fewer international students attending?
FELDBLUM: Let me address this in two ways. First, I do think that with this type of administrative actions, both that we've seen with the visa revocations, with the unilateral student record terminations, as well as other kinds of immigration enforcement, that yes, we will see a decline in new international student enrollment.
I think most of the international students who are already here, who can participate in optional practical training will seek to do so. So overall numbers may not see the decline, but new international student enrollment numbers, those that are thinking of coming for this coming fall will reconsider.
That said, Mark, let me also just highlight one important development in the visa revocations and student record terminations situation right now. Starting yesterday, we saw some student records being reactivated. And I think that we are starting to see this because court action, legal challenges make a difference.
BRODIE: Well, so, I guess on a practical level, if there are in fact fewer international students, I would imagine that would impact universities' financial situations, right? Because international students tend to pay higher tuition than in state or even out of state students.
FELDBLUM: I would say that we can think about the harmful impacts in three ways. First is the impact, direct impacts on American students. Many American students don't go abroad. For them to prepare for the global competitive world, it is often through their interaction with international students on their campuses.
So while I know we focus on revenue, I think we also have to focus on the experience that American students benefit from. From having international students in their classrooms, on their campuses, learning from international students, being able to work in global teams.
Second, yes, I think the direct impacts on institutions, less international students, less revenue, but also think about less research productivity because the other thing that we know about international students and scholars is that they increase the research productivity of our institutions.
And then finally, Mark, I'll just talk about the rippling impacts on our businesses and industries in Arizona and across the U.S., and that is less international students really can translate in a type of brain drain for the U.S. because their loss is gonna be our loss in filling skill shortages in spurring entrepreneurship and boosting economic growth and fueling our workforce.
BRODIE: Do you think that all of the actions that are taking place on university campuses across the country, and I guess maybe also Sort of the concerns about the Trump administration's immigration policies more broadly. Is all that making the U.S. a less desirable spot for international students to go to higher education?
FELDBLUM: The U.S. is in an increasingly global competitive marketplace for international student talent. We already see across the world other countries who are actively working to recruit international students as well as retain their students in the country. So for example, India and China have many initiatives to ensure that their students don't all go abroad. So first, we're in an increasingly globally competitive world.
Second, yes, I think that what we're starting to see under this administration is once again prospects of policies and rhetorics that will deter international students from choosing the U.S. for their study and career pathways.
