Trump And Rubio To Revoke Student Visas

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the United States will begin aggressively revoking visas from Chinese students, specifically targeting those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or who are enrolled in what the administration defines as “critical fields.” According to Rubio, the State Department will work in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to carry out the policy shift, which includes revising visa criteria and implementing more stringent vetting measures for all future student visa applications from China and Hong Kong.

Rubio posted the announcement on X, stating directly, “The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

The announcement followed quickly on the heels of a directive issued by the Trump administration on Tuesday instructing U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to halt scheduling new visa interviews for international students. The pause is part of a broader move toward expanding social media screening and background checks for student visa applicants. An internal State Department cable, signed by Rubio, ordered consular offices not to add any additional capacity for student or exchange visitor visa interviews (F, M, and J categories) until new guidance is released in the coming days.

Earlier this year, the administration had already revoked the visas of thousands of international students. While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) later reinstated more than 1,500 of those students in its visa reporting system, the broader policy of targeting foreign students has continued to escalate.

Just last week, the Department of Homeland Security moved to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students by terminating its participation in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said those students would need to transfer to other institutions or risk losing their legal status in the U.S.

Adding to the administration’s crackdown, President Trump on Wednesday floated the idea of capping international student enrollment at U.S. universities. While speaking from the Oval Office, he suggested a 15 percent ceiling for schools like Harvard, criticizing the current enrollment of foreign students which he incorrectly stated was 31 percent as being too high.

“These countries aren’t helping us. They’re not investing in Harvard … we are,” Trump said. “So why would 31 percent why would a number so big?” He added that U.S. students are being squeezed out of elite schools because of foreign admissions.

Trump went further, raising alarm over what he called “troublemakers” among foreign students, linking them without evidence to civil unrest and political demonstrations. “We don’t want to see shopping centers exploding. We don’t want to see the kind of riots that you had,” he said. “Many of those students didn’t go anywhere. Many of those students were troublemakers caused by the radical left lunatics in this country.”

He concluded by saying he does not want “radical people” entering the country on student visas, suggesting again without details that some foreign students pose a threat to national stability.

The new visa revocation efforts and the broader rhetoric from the Trump administration are likely to further strain already tense U.S.-China relations and may prompt a significant reshaping of international student enrollment in American higher education. Critics are calling the move xenophobic and politically motivated, while administration officials frame it as a necessary step to protect U.S. national security.