Banning Foreign Students Is the Opposite of “Making America Great”

As a Palestinian American who has made the difficult choice to step down from the U.S. Department of Education over the years shaping education policies from within the federal government and over the Biden administration’s approach to Gaza, I saw firsthand what seemed to be able to reflect well beyond the intended target. Since President Trump took office, his administration has not only weaponized our civil rights laws to try to curb student behaviorism, but has also launched a multi-faceted attack on top universities in our country and their international communities.

The past few weeks alone are amazing. Not only has the Trump administration threatened Columbia University’s accreditation with continued attempts to weaponize anti-Semitism, it has also signed a declaration to suspend visas for all new international students at Harvard University, and announced a ban on swept travel in 12 black, Arab and Muslim countries.

The threat to Colombia’s accreditation status follows a highly predictable and authoritarian playbook. This is not a legitimate effort to combat anti-Semitism. This is a raw power play for control, reflecting the ideological goals of Project 2025 and efforts to limit academic independence in other authoritarian acquisitions. To force independent accreditors to punish universities is to undermine one of the last remaining pillars of our vulnerable education system. And it’s a harsh warning that this will happen to universities that are already bent backwards to suppress the speeches of students and faculty: tempering will not save you.

But these attacks are more than just one university or one policy. They are a calm tendency and the message is that America is no longer a welcoming society. When we start dealing with international students like poker chips in a massive political game, we’re not only hurting them. We are hurting ourselves. And when about half of these students are studying at the graduate level and developing important expertise, it’s more important than ever that we can maintain and lift our talent, rather than pushing it away.

When our government tells the world that commitment to free expression is conditional, it is important to remember that many students come here as they want to study freely. Universities around the world provide sufficient education to become doctors, lawyers and computer scientists. However, in America, these skills should be learned in a free society, in a library that is not censored, and in a classroom where open discussion is welcomed.

Welcome international students are not charity on the part of the United States. It is a powerful economic factor for our country. International students don’t just fill classroom seats. They’re pumping Almost $44 billion We support our economy and the employment of around 400,000 people, from professors and university staff to those who run local coffee shops and bookstores near campus. Approximately 80% of international students At the undergraduate level, they usually pay their own methods with much higher tuition fees than domestic students, usually without federal financial aid. They are literally bringing new money to our country, and research has led to a higher percentage of graduates than the entire student population.

When the US becomes unattractive or hostile environment, competing countries become increasingly magnets for international students and researchers. Imagine a future where next-generation global innovators in key areas such as AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology are overwhelmingly concentrated in countries that actively compete with the United States. This is not just a “brain drain” for us. it is”Brain gainFor them, it could accelerate their innovation, strengthen their economy, and potentially change the global balance of technological and economic power.

In some cases, this brain drain is no longer a future risk, but a current reality. journal Nature Recently revealed Amazing trends: A massive jump of US-based scientists currently looking for overseas jobs in places like Canada (+41%), Europe (+32%), China (+20%) and more. At the same time, few international scientists apply for jobs here. As the Australian Institute of Policy Studies has put it bluntly, this is “a once-in-a-century brain opportunity” for them.

Some people argue that these policies simply free the spot for American applicants. This is a dangerously misunderstanding of how excellence works. We don’t just exchange one student for another. We are reducing the entire pool of first-class talent to paint.

Before Trump, he saw encouraging growth from previously underrepresented regions. a A huge number Of the 56% of international students, they jump into the STEM field. Think about it: almost half of our STEM PhD and master’s alumni are international students, whose existence directly links to the rise in patent applications at universities in the US. They then start up a company. A $1/10 startup in the US was founded by people who first came here as international students. To be willing to cut this off is economic and intellectual self-destruction.