Opportunities & Anxieties: A Study of International Students in the Trump Era

Abstract

Over one million international students are currently pursuing their education in the United States. But the number of newly enrolled international students is dropping. Some research suggests that President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, particularly his Muslim ban that has received international attention, may be to blame for this decline. This Article presents the results of qualitative empirical research I conducted to investigate the link between President Trump and declining international student enrollment. I interviewed more than 40 undergraduate and graduate students from abroad studying in the United States. I learned that there are unique opportunities that draw and will likely continue to draw international students to the United States to pursue their education, even in the face of changing U.S. immigration policies. Yet international students do have substantial anxieties about studying in the United States, some of which are traceable to President Trump’s words and actions.

Keywords: immigration, students, international students, empirical, Trump

JEL Classification: K1, K37