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Trump administration to 'aggressively' revoke visas of Chinese students
24 minutes ago
Sakshi Venkatraman
BBC News
Watch: Trump and Harvard's student visa battle explained... in 70 seconds
President Donald Trump's administration says it will "aggressively" revoke the visas of Chinese students studying in the US.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement the move would include "those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields".
Criteria will also be revised to "enhance scrutiny" of future visa applicants from China and Hong Kong, Rubio added.
Relations between Beijing and Washington have plummeted in recent months as a tit-for-tat trade war erupted between the two superpowers sparked by Trump's tariffs.
On Monday, Rubio, who is America's top diplomat, ordered US embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as the state department prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants.
Estimates indicate there were around 280,000 Chinese students studying in the US last year.
Chinese nationals used to account for the bulk of international students enrolled at US universities, though that has recently changed.
From pandemic-era restrictions to worsening relations between the two countries, their number has dropped in recent years, according to US state department data. Watch: Trump on Harvard's international students
Rubio said in Wednesday's statement: "Under President Trump's leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
"We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong."
The Trump administration has already moved to deport a number of foreign students, while revoking thousands of visas for others. Many of these actions have been blocked by the courts.
It has also frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for universities. The president sees some of America's most elite institutions, such as Harvard, as too liberal and accuses them of failing to combat antisemitism on campus.
Many US universities rely on foreign students for a significant chunk of their funding - as those scholars often pay higher tuition fees.
Students say they 'regret' applying to US schools after visa changes
A number of international students have been reeling from the planned visa changes.
Some told the BBC they wished they had never opted to study in the US.
"I already regret it," said a 22-year-old master's student from Shanghai, who did not want to be named for fear of jeopardising a visa to study at the University of Pennsylvania.
An official memo, reviewed by the BBC's US partner CBS News, has instructed US embassies across the world to remove all open appointments for students seeking visas, but to keep already-scheduled appointments in place.
Beijing has not yet responded to the US move to revoke the visas of Chinese students specifically.
But China responded earlier on Wednesday to the Trump administration's move to cancel student visa appointments.
"We urge the US side to earnestly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China," an official was quoted as saying. Watch: "Without us, Harvard is not Harvard", says international student on visa
Last week, a judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to strip Harvard of its ability to enrol international students.
The ruling came after America's oldest university filed a lawsuit against the administration. The White House accused the judge hearing the case of having a "liberal agenda".
On Wednesday, Harvard said in a court filing that revoking its certification to host international students could inflict irreparable harm on the university.
In a declaration filed with the court motion, Harvard international office director Maureen Martin said the move was causing "significant emotional distress" for students and scholars.
She wrote that students were skipping graduation ceremonies, cancelling international travel and in some cases seeking transfer to other colleges.
Some had also reported fears of being forced to return to countries where they face active conflict or political persecution, according to the court filing.
cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/193184
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Thinking about all those liberal Chinese students in my Chinese literature classes ranting about the oppressiveness of the CCP or even the few straight up claiming to be right wing who despised "liberals", or my Chinese teachers that would suggest right wing reading material or the one that balked at me for suggesting China did the right thing wrt to covid measures, the same one that said their favorite historical figure was Winston Churchill and again balked when I said mine was Ho Chi Minh, or that Chinese writer for the school newspaper that voiced full-throated support for ridding the school of our Confucious institute because it was insidious CCP propaganda (they gave beginner chinese lessons to the public for $20 and threw a new years celebration party every year 🙄).
Yeah I know it's not Chinese people's fault, not suggesting that, just felt annoyed how these people were advocating against their own interests and encouraging a future like this cause they thought they had a good shot at joining club honky.
They would also put up signs like this ... (cw: sv mention)
Admitting to being pro-COVID is wild
The nurgle agenda can no longer be denied
It’s the same as when I see Hindu nationalists acting like because they’re also racist white people will see them as white. No man, they’re putting you right in line behind the Pakistanis and in fact can’t tell the difference between you.
Me feeling apprehensive whenever I meet fellow diaspora folk bc idk if they're going to be 'apolitical' or this kind of gross comprador lib. Bonus points if they're either of those types and white-worshippers.
I might have actually gotten gotten into a shouting match if a Chinese person I knew had this insane sign, I already get infuriated when a Chinese-American lib just casually drops "China bad" shit unprompted in conversation.