Colleges rush to shield students ahead of possible travel ban

Ahead of President-elect Trump’s January 20 inauguration, some universities are alerting international students about potential changes to U.S. immigration policy.

With just a few weeks left before Trump takes office, universities across the country—especially those with lots of international students—are stepping in to protect their students from any potential disruption to their education. Rumors are circulating about possible travel restrictions, requiring many schools to warn students about new policies that could affect immigration and travel. The main takeaway? If you could be impacted, think twice about leaving the U.S.—but if you’re already away, consider coming back well before Inauguration Day.

Schools including NYU, the University of Southern California, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MIT, and Harvard have all emailed students about the potential changes as well as offering guidance for protecting their education and their stay in the U.S.

Northeastern University, which has the second-highest number of international students (after NYU), sent an alert ahead of Thanksgiving from the Office of Global Services to the school’s international community: “To minimize potential disruption to your studies, work, or research, we strongly recommend returning to the U.S. no later than January 6, 2025, the start of Northeastern’s Winter/Spring academic term. This will allow you to be present on campus before possible restrictions take effect.”

Cornell University has a diverse population, with international students comprising 26% of the student body. It also employs faculty and staff from 93 countries and regions, per the university website. To that end, its Office of Global Learning put out a guidance memo for those who may be impacted by “possible” immigration changes. “A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” the memo stated. “The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries, particularly China and India, could be added to this list.”

Its message: Students, faculty, and staff from the listed countries should “be back in the U.S. in advance of the semester,” which begins January 21, 2025, and advised them to carry up-to-date travel documents as well as a certificate of enrollment, transcripts, or other paperwork that shows a connection to the university. It added, “President-elect Trump has indicated that mass deportations could begin soon after he takes office. These are likely to focus initially on people with final orders of deportation. Mass deportations will also likely be challenged in the courts and take longer than promised.”

Other schools are also making sure that students know their immigration status will not be released. Just after the election, UCLA’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy sent a message to students that explained the school will “not release immigration status or related information in confidential student records . . . without a judicial warrant, a subpoena, a court order, or as otherwise required by law.” It continued, “The University also has a strict policy that generally prevents campus police from undertaking joint efforts with federal immigration enforcement or detaining people at the federal government’s request.”

Some states already have policies that protect immigrant students’ right to an education. For example, in New York, “all multilingual learners and immigrant students can attend college, including undocumented students,” per NYC Public Schools. In 2017, New York also put into place a 10-step protocol for dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, which advises public school and university officials to tell the ICE officer that “you, the school official, are required by district protocols to notify and obtain guidance from the district legal counsel” and advises the school official to “notify district legal counsel and provide them with the details and documentation obtained from the officer.”

The future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which protects some undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, remains uncertain. In his first term, Trump sought to end the protections DACA had put in place, but the Supreme Court blocked those efforts. Trump has vowed to end DACA in his second term.