Pat Janyamethakul, a Thai student at Virginia Tech, wanted to attend college in the U.S. because of “the country’s reputation in higher education.” The senior says that earning a degree here would “set her apart” from her peers back in Thailand.

Rafael Lima, a Brazilian student, has one more year to go at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. The communications major is on a four-year, full-ride scholarship, one of only four awarded to a scholar in his country by a private donor from Brazil.

Alejandra G'valen is from Mexico. She’s been in the U.S. for six years, earned her undergraduate degree and is finishing a master's degree in theological ethics at Lee University in Tennessee. G'valen says, “The experience we lived ... when the cartels terrorized our city, [was] extremely traumatizing.”

Janyamethakul, Lima and G'valen are among 1 million international students in the United States. This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that F-1 visa holders will have to leave the country or risk deportation unless they take fall classes in person and not online only.

While 60% of colleges and universities say they will have most classes on campus in person, all schools are grappling with how to teach, while keeping their students and staff healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Universities Try to Keep Students Apart but Together

Students say they are caught between being exposed to the coronavirus in the U.S., where cases are increasing, and the risk of losing their immigration status.

“If I cannot return to the United States due to the travel restrictions, the new ICE regulations suggest that my visa status will be terminated,” Brazilian Dan Setton, a rising junior at the University of Evansville in Indiana, said.

“This is completely unconscionable and arbitrary as I haven't done anything wrong. I know a lot of students in my situation and some that will now have to leave the U.S. -- in the middle of a pandemic -- because their schools are going fully online,” Setton said.

Lima says he worries about many things, his scholarship near the top of the list.

“I don't know how that will affect my scholarship,” he says. “One of the requirements of my scholarship is maintaining full regular standing [over] eight semesters … attending classes in person and keeping your visa active. … I don't even know, for example, if I take online classes in Brazil, I will receive a part of my scholarship or none of my scholarship money at all. So there's, there's still that that I have to figure out.”

Nine percent of 1,090 U.S. universities -- or 98 institutions -- are planning for a fall semester exclusively online, according to the Chronicle for Higher Education, which since March has been tracking which colleges and universities will teach online, in person or a hybrid of both.

An additional 24% say they are planning a hybrid model (part in class, part online), and 7.2% undecided or undeclared. Sixty percent say they are planning for an in-person semester.

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What Is Known about ICE’s Rule Change for Foreign Students

Virginia Tech is planning a hybrid model this fall. Janyamethakul says she fears being infected by the coronavirus if she returns to Virginia Tech because “no one is willing to heal you, and not to mention the lack of PPE and health care facilities in the United States.”

ICE’s new regulation conflicts with colleges’ and universities’ teaching plans for the fall semester, as well as international students and their immigration status.

Various school and work visas seem to be increasingly difficult to obtain, she says, and “worst of all, I have to risk my life by traveling, risking contracting COVID-19.”

“The rules keep changing and the university keeps postponing regulations in regards to international students because they are waiting for DHS to publish a Temporary Final Rule in the Federal Register,” Janyamethakul said. “The current regulations are pretty much for citizens and all the options given to us are pretty much all disadvantageous.”

Lee University, G'valen’s college, is one of 60% of U.S. universities planning to resume in-person classes and activities this fall, according to the university’s website.

“If the plans don't come through, and let's say they don’t make a final decision by August, I have nowhere to go. I am in limbo, together with many other students,” G'valen said.

If she is unable to return to campus, G'valen “would have to move further to the center of Mexico with some distant cousins” until the pandemic is over.

Some universities are making accommodations.

Columbia University in New York says it will offer one-credit classes in person to international students so they meet ICE’s requirements and can come back or stay in the U.S. “We want our international students to be able to complete their studies here if possible,” officials said in an email to the university community.

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— myesha thee stallion (@myeshachou) July 8, 2020

“For the large community of international students who cannot come to Columbia because of the pandemic, we will be adapting our network of Columbia Global centers in new locations to provide in-person academic and peer engagement.”

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— myesha thee stallion (@myeshachou) July 8, 2020

Freshmen and sophomores will be on campus in the fall, juniors and seniors in the spring. International students will be welcome on the New York City campus year-round.

Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed suit Wednesday against the Department of Homeland Security -- ICE’s federal parent agency -- to stave off the action.

SEE ALSO:

Harvard, MIT Sue to Block ICE Rule on International Students

And students have launched online petitions, including one on the White House website, a site created in 2001 by the Obama administration.

A petition with more than 308,000 signatures Wednesday afternoon on Change.org requests that F-1 and M-1 students be able to remain in the U.S. with online-only classes.

“I just want to try to get back to my normal life,” Lima laments, calling the year so far “really chaotic.” He was studying abroad in Belgium this winter when the coronavirus pandemic erupted. After 27 hours of travel that wove north and south before landing in South America, the Brazilian tested positive for COVID-19.

“Just the feeling of me being back in, like, a college dorm where I have, like, all my stuff sorted out,” he said in a Skype interview with VOA. “When I only have to worry about studying, instead of worrying about my visa, worrying about my health, worrying about not affecting my family, worrying about, like, a myriad of stuff.”

“I was really looking forward to that,” says Lima, who has just his senior year to finish.

“I really don't know how, how am I going to be able to do that this semester with all the restrictions that I have to face right now,” he asked.

Ruby Rosenthal and Aline Barros contribued to this report.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)