95bFM Being an international student in the US amidst treats to academic freedom
18 September, 2025
Interview by Caeden Tipler, adapted by Samantha Watson-Tayler
Since returning to power in January, US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on tertiary institutions and immigration has resulted in a lot of international students feeling as if they have been left in the dust.
This comes as multiple Ivy League universities have faced funding cuts and freezes, and have been threatened with lawsuits — which have extended to their students.
Many international students have had their visas revoked, with the administration recently announcing plans to tighten Visa durations for these students. As a result, the US has seen a drop of 30% to 40% in international student numbers this academic year.
This is despite international students bringing in an estimated $44 billion USD, or roughly $74 billion NZD, into the US economy in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.
Former 95bFM Wire Host, Yale University student, and current journalist for Yale Daily News, Andre Fa’aoso, told the International Desk that he is considering moving either back to New Zealand or to another country over these concerns.
He says these crackdowns have made it more difficult for international students to get work experience with US employers.
“… the job market for international students is going to become even more challenging because they [employers] now have to assess the additional cost or burden to hire an international student rather than a domestic student, because there's even smaller pathways to visa sponsorship nowadays or there's even discussions of that.”
He echoes similar worries of other international students concerned about passing through US customs.
“I went through the US border three or four days ago, and I mean for all parts it went totally fine, but there was that nervousness on account of all the horror stories that I've read.”
Many tourists and international students have been detained for multiple weeks by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including a New Zealander and her son for three weeks.
The government currently has an ‘exercise increased caution’ for those travelling to the US, with many New Zealanders developing their own risk assessment before heading to the North American country.
Fa’aoso says that students coming from Middle Eastern countries, for example, are significantly facing more scrutiny.
“There were some Iranian international students whom I interviewed that can't even enter the United States, and in many respects they feel like they're being turned away at the door, even though all they want to do is come and pursue an education and contribute to the United States.”
On top of these issues, universities under both the Biden and the second Trump Administrations have facilitated crackdowns on campus protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which they justify as fighting anti-semitism and protecting Jewish students.
The Trump Administration has threatened to remove federal funding for academic institutions that refuse to acquiesce to the Trump Administration's demands regarding cracking down on pro-Palestine protests on campuses, diverting away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements, and transgender students using the bathrooms aligning with their gender identity.
Fa’aoso says some tertiary institutions in the country have abided by the Administration’s demands, but this comes at a cost.
“Some people would say that, you know, universities as the likes of Harvard and Columbia have somewhat folded to the Trump administration's demands and at the cost of academic freedom, but then also freedom of speech.”
Some universities are trying to fight back, particularly in Congress, attempting to use lobbying to make sure the concerns of the academic community and the students they represent are heard.
