The Trump administration plans to begin aggressively revoking Chinese student visas, targeting those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in sensitive fields, according to a statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 28, 2025
The State Department also announced a pause on new student visa interviews as it prepares to increase scrutiny of applicants’ social media accounts. China criticized the move as discriminatory and politically motivated, warning it could damage academic and cultural ties.
The crackdown comes amid rising U.S.-China tensions and broader efforts by the administration to limit foreign student presence on American campuses.
Rubio’s statement, posted Wednesday on the State Department website and titled “New Visa Policies Put America First, Not China,” did not provide specifics on how the revocations would be carried out or how many students might be affected.
However, it signals a sharp escalation in the administration’s hardline stance toward China, particularly in the realm of higher education. Chinese students make up roughly 25% of the international student population in the U.S. and contribute billions of dollars to American universities through full tuition and living expenses, according to an article at the Wall Street Journal.
Continuing to push back against the Trump administration’s stance on international students, which initially target Arabs accused of having “pro-hamas” and anti-semitic sentiments, Harvard President Alan Garber took a stab at Trump’s continuing efforts to “de-internationalize” U.S. higher education during his recent commencement address.
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Garber can be heard making a point to welcome students from throughout the U.S. and the world, noting that students are there from all corners of the earth, “as it should be.”
Harvard has been the most vocal U.S. university against the Trump administration’s crack down on free speech and targeting of international students, and has come into direct confrontation with the administration through legal battles. Trump, in an attempt to get the country’s top university to acquiesce to his policies, such as the removal of all DEI policies, threatened to pull the universities funding.
Yet on May 29 a Boston judge says she plans on issuing a preliminary injunction that will block the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign exchange students, according to a report at USA Today.
USA Today explains that the news comes just days after the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard on May 22 letter revoking its ability to enroll international students on the grounds that it was “perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies.”
