Trump’s Push to Block and Expel International Students Harms U.S. Competitiveness, Economy, and Global Standing

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Washington, DC — In the latest installment of “At What Cost”, America’s Voice highlights the economic harms to America, and our global competitiveness caused by ongoing efforts to block international students from studying, working, and remaining in the United States. This self-defeating attack on our colleges and universities,  undermines one of America’s core global advantages and imposes long-term costs on the U.S. economy and innovation ecosystem.

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“As high school and college students gather to celebrate the promise of their future, the Trump Administration is deliberately terrorizing foreign and domestic students alike as he undermines our education system that is the envy of the world. In the process, he is gutting a huge economic engine that helps rural and urban communities thrive in every corner of our country. Instead of celebrating the bright young minds who choose to study in the U.S., Trump is destroying one of America’s key competitive advantages .The cost isn’t just the billions in lost economic growth, but the opportunity cost of lost human potential. As other countries welcome this talent, America’s loss becomes the world’s gain.”

See below key excerpts from recent reporting that underscore the economic and strategic consequences of efforts to drive away international students:

The Washington Post “Here’s how much international students contribute to the U.S. economy,” notes: “The more than 1.1 million international students who studied in the United States last year contributed nearly $44 billion to the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 school year, according to nonpartisan nonprofit NAFSA, the Association of International Educators — from $10 million in Alaska to more than $6 billion in California — and supported more than 378,000 jobs. “Students don’t just spend money paying tuition fees,” Nicholas Barr, a professor at the London School of Economics, said in an interview. “They pay rent, they go to restaurants, they travel”… “The long-term effects of fewer international students are not as easily measurable, Yannelis said. He grew up near the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, hearing about the success story of one of the school’s most famous alumni: Shahid Khan, a businessman and owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Khan attended the University of Illinois as an international student from Pakistan before going on to develop a more economical way to manufacture single-piece car bumpers with his start-up, BumperWorks, and taking over the auto manufacturing company Flex-N-Gate. He kept his businesses in the area, Yannelis said, creating many jobs and opportunities for locals.”

NBC News “Blocked from Harvard, the world’s star students weigh staying in Asia and Europe,” notes: “The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology said Friday that Harvard undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as students with confirmed offers of admission, were welcome to study there instead. Europe has also sought to lure scientists worried about funding cuts and freedom of research under Trump, launching a $570 million initiative this month called “Choose Europe.””

BBC News “Students say they ‘regret’ applying to US universities after visa changes,” noted: “For students, the changes have brought widespread uncertainty, with visa appointments at US embassies now unavailable and delays that could leave scholarships up in the air. Some students told the BBC that the confusion has even left them wishing they had applied to schools outside the US.”