Overview
- In a Fox News interview, Trump reiterated a goal of issuing roughly 600,000 visas to Chinese students over the next two years, up from about 300,000 now.
- He argued that cutting foreign enrollment would force many institutions, including some HBCUs, to close because international students pay far higher tuition.
- Prominent conservatives, including Michael Flynn, Ron DeSantis and Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticized the plan over espionage risks and competition for seats.
- The defense of expansion comes after stricter measures this year, including thousands of visa revocations and a State Department-ordered pause on student visa interviews followed by tougher vetting.
- Chinese enrollment in the U.S. declined from a peak above 372,000 in 2019–2020 to just over 270,000 in 2023–2024, even as the administration now reverses earlier talk of broadly revoking Chinese student visas.