Although attending and graduating from an American university is a great milestone for many undocumented students, it doesn’t eliminate their immigration status or fear for their livelihoods.
Mitzli Pavia Garcia, a 2024 San Diego State University graduate, remembers being 12 years old and running out of food and water on a three-day trek through the Arizona desert. Garcia and eight others attempted to cross the Mexico border into the United States for a month, turning back due to extreme weather or arrests.
Garcia and the group broke open cactuses to sip and prayed when they found a farm, taking gulps of water from the same trough as the cattle.
Today, Garcia is a 28-year-old undocumented resident of the United States.
Born in Cuautla, Mexico, Garcia was 6 years old when they first entered the United States. According to Garcia, their mom wanted to give them a life better than her own. Garcia’s mother never finished middle school, and their father did not complete elementary school.
Garcia said they always navigate life aware of their immigration status. Struggling to keep up in high school while thinking about higher education, they recalled how colleges and financial aid programs required Social Security numbers to apply. And they worried about the record number of deportations during the Obama administration, which instilled fear in the undocumented community.
“When I was in school, I knew that I was safe from immigration, so I loved learning,” Garcia said. “I was top of the class for some things, and it was really hard for me to push myself to do the best when I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to access higher education.”
Garcia applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, hoping to receive security from the government as a student. Because Garcia and their mom had returned to Mexico to care for their grandmother before high school, their application was instantly rejected.
The lack of security from DACA didn’t deter Garcia.
Garcia was accepted to San Diego State University in 2022 after attending San Diego Mesa and San Diego Miramar community colleges.
Garcia said undocumented students severely lacked support at SDSU.
“We have an undocumented resource center at San Diego State. It’s a great thing, but it’s the bare minimum,” Garcia said. “It’s a great space for undocumented students to go and sit, but it was hard for me to ask them for help because they don’t even have the resources.”
Garcia found more support from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán, or MEChA, on campus. According to its website, MEChA is a national organization with local chapters that focus on Chicanx issues, including U.S. immigration and Central and South American political struggles.
Garcia felt pressure even after graduating from a four-year university. They have been trying to achieve American citizenship, but have grown frustrated and worried about the lengthy process.
“A lot of us still can’t legally work in the spaces that we worked so hard for four years because again, they require Social Security or legal status,” they said. “I submitted legal paperwork in 2020, then Covid hit. At the time, it was a five-year wait for the legal route that I was pursuing. It is now doubled, and now it’s a 10-year-plus wait. Trump keeps telling us, ‘Hey, do it the legal way,’ and then the legal way takes a quarter of your life.”
Based on the legal proceedings he has completed, Garcia said, “I am not supposed to be deportable.” But they know, ICE “can hold me in a detention center if they want to, because they’re doing that now. They’re arresting citizens just because they’re brown, putting them in detention centers, and then not believing that they’re citizens, even with the paperwork. I don’t even feel safe to travel outside of San Diego, and when everything started happening a few weeks ago, I was afraid to leave my house.”
Garcia finds strength in their undocumented identity, however.
“We’ve feared this already before,” they said. “While they may be able to instill this fear in my community, I’m not going to let them instill that fear in me. I’m still here, I still made it out. We can still achieve our dreams.”
About 18,000 Chinese students are enrolled at the University of California, 2,600 at California community colleges and 850 at California State University.
Chinese students have increasingly chosen colleges outside the U.S., including closer to home in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Like all international students, Chinese students can be a valuable source of tuition for public universities, since they pay more than California residents.
A flurry of at-times contradictory White House pronouncements are stoking confusion and concern among the 50,000 Chinese nationals who are studyingat California’s colleges and universities — and potentially steering students away from further work and study in the U.S.
Recent shifts in U.S. policy toward China have cast a “cloud of suspicion” over Chinese students, said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, the executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, an advocacy group.
“Let’s say you invested all this time, money and energy and years of your life studying to get into a prominent university here in the U.S.,” she said. “You get in, [but] now it’s no longer guaranteed that you could actually finish that degree.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a two-sentence statement on May 28 that the U.S. would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” He also pledged to “enhance scrutiny” of future visa applications from China and Hong Kong.
But the proposal for stronger visa enforcement appears to have been short-lived. On June 11, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would allow Chinese students into colleges and universities as part of a trade truce with China.
The flip from crackdown to rapprochement is one of the latest flash points in a volatile period for Chinese students. Even before Trump’s second term, fewer Chinese students were coming to American universities, data show. International students on U.S. college campuses have experienced a tumultuous spring term as the Trump administration first terminated and later said it would restore thousands of international students’ records in a federal database. The State Department in May paused new student visa interviews but said Wednesday it would resume processing and require applicants to make social media accounts public for government review.
V., a Chinese national student at UC Davis, who requested that EdSource withhold his full name in light of uncertain U.S. immigration policy, said the reelection of Trump has made him “a little bit afraid of speaking out.”
“I’m more conscious about, if I speak online or on social media, maybe I’ll get deported,” he said, even though he generally avoids posting anything political online.
Though he hopes to continue working in the U.S. when he graduates this summer, V. knows several Chinese students who also attended American colleges as undergraduates and initially intended to pursue graduate degrees in the U.S., but are now continuing their education in other foreign countries instead.
The ebb and flow of Chinese students is of particular interest to higher education institutions in California. China accounts for 36% of all international enrollment in the state, according to the Institute of International Education, making it California’s single-largest country of origin for international students. Nearly 18,000 Chinese international studentsare enrolled at the University of California, almost 6,000 at the University of Southern California, about 2,600 across the state’s community colleges and roughly 850 at California State University.
Those students bring with them coveted tuition dollars, a boon to the state’s public universities, where international students pay a premium over the rate charged to California residents.
California universities responded to the Trump administration’s statements on Chinese student visas with expressions of support for international students from China. A written statement from the UC system on June 11 said the public university system “is concerned about the U.S. State Department’s announcement to revoke visas of Chinese students.” The statement said international students and scholars are “vital members of our university community and contribute greatly to our research, teaching, patient care and public service mission.”
If Chinese students were to stop attending U.S. colleges and universities, their absence would be felt across academic disciplines. More than a fifth of Chinese students in the U.S. studied math and computer science, roughly 17% pursued engineering and almost 13% sought degrees in business and management, according to 2023-24 data from the Institute of International Education.
Chinese students are most heavily enrolled in U.S. graduate programs. Roughly 123,000 Chinese nationals studying at U.S. colleges and universities — about 44% of all Chinese students in the U.S. — are graduate students.
Sources interviewed for this story emphasized that Chinese students are weighing not only the immediate twists and turns of U.S. foreign policy, but longer-term concerns about cost of living and the draw of preferable options closer to home. They also noted that restrictions on Chinese students are consistent with policies Trump pursued during his first term.
‘Our parents are super, super worried’
A Chinese international student at the University of Southern California who graduated from a Ph.D. program in May said he has become accustomed to exchanging concerned text messages with friends whenever news of possible changes to U.S. immigration policy breaks. EdSource agreed to withhold his full name due to his concerns about increased scrutiny on international students.
“I’ve gotten texts from people saying, ‘Oh, are you OK? Are you safe?’ I’ve got people checking on each other, asking them, ‘So what can happen to the current visa holders? And if I already scheduled [a visa interview], will I still be able to go?’” he said.
Already, he added, peers in China are contemplating pursuing their degrees in the United Kingdom or Australia as alternatives to the U.S. The student himself is applying for Optional Practical Training, which allows eligible international students to extend their time in the U.S. after completing an academic program.
Meanwhile, at UC Davis, V. has found something like a second home. He has joined a sports team, pledged a fraternity and played an instrument in a school-affiliated band. Contrary to the stereotypes of U.S. cities as plagued by gun violence and crime that are common in Chinese media, he has found Davis to be peaceful, diverse and open-hearted.
But with the latest vacillations in U.S. immigration policy, concern is growing at home among Chinese students’ families. “Our parents are super, super worried,” he said, something evident whenever he checks a group chat where the parents of Chinese students in the U.S. share their questions and concerns.
A gradual slide in Chinese students at U.S. colleges
There are ample signs that Chinese students have been cooling on American degrees long before Trump’s return to office this year.
Data from the Institute of International Education show that the number of Chinese students in the U.S. increased rapidly during the 2000s, a trend that continued at a slower pace through the early years of the first Trump administration.
But the number of Chinese internationals at U.S. institutions began to drop with the onset of Covid-19 and has continued to fall since. As of the 2023-24 school year, there were more than 277,000 Chinese students in the U.S., down more than 95,000 students from pre-pandemic levels in 2019-20.
Several expertsinterviewed for this story framed the Trump administration’s recent statements about Chinese students as the latest of several policy changes that may discourage Chinese students from attending college in the U.S.
After Trump left office in 2021, Biden administration Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken struck a more conciliatory tone regarding Chinese students in the U.S., saying in a May 2022 speech that the U.S. “can stay vigilant about our national security without closing our doors.” And during a November 2023 meeting, former President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed a commitment to more educational exchanges.
But the Biden administration initially continued a Department of Justice (DOJ) initiative launched under Trump in 2018, which targeted Chinese researchers accused of stealing American intellectual property. The Biden DOJ ended the program in 2022 following concerns about racial profiling.
And in March 2024, before Trump’s return to office, reports surfaced that more than a dozen Chinese students were denied reentry into the U.S. despite holding a valid visa, while others reported being searched and questioned for hours at the U.S. border. The State Department told The Washington Post at the time that the number of Chinese students found to be inadmissible for entry had been stable in recent years.
‘We are still hoping it’s getting better’
Geopolitical concerns are not the only reasons some Chinese students may think twice about studying at U.S. colleges and universities.
Al Wang, the general manager of Wiseway Global, which recruits Chinese students to study in other countries, said that Chinese students may not apply tocertain U.S. institutions because rankings of the best universities in the world tend to score institutions in countries like the United Kingdom and Singapore above U.S. rivals. In addition, he said, Chinese students may choose to stay home for college, seeing joint-degree programs in China with U.S. universities like Duke as a more economical option.
Wang nonetheless anticipates that the U.S. and China will continue cooperating on education and cultural exchange programs, something the Chinese Ministry of Education has encouraged. He predicted that more Chinese students will study abroad in the U.S. for a school term or summer intensive, rather than enrolling in degree programs. “We are still hoping it’s getting better, but we don’t know where it’s going,” he said.
The Chinese international student at USC suggested that U.S. universities aiming to maintain their international student population should focus on providing legal support, security and a sense of belonging. Failing that, he added, it won’t take long for current students to warn would-be classmates.
“They’re going to tell their peers from high school, or they’re going to tell people from home, ‘Oh, don’t come,’” he said.
The international students office at Grossmont College in El Cajon,.
Amy DiPierro
Top Takeaways
About 14,000 international students attend California’s community colleges, many of them in the Bay Area.
Community colleges charge international students as much as 10 times resident tuition.
The Trump administration said it is restoring abruptly revoked international student visas, but anxiety persists.
As Kaung Lett Yhone finished high school at home in Myanmar, he knew he wanted to go to college in the U.S. So to find the perfect fit, he did what anyone would do: He searched online.
“I looked up on Google, ‘best community college,’ and De Anza showed up as No. 1,” he said. So he soon enrolled at De Anza College, a two-year school located in Cupertino, in the heart of Silicon Valley, which has an international reputation for preparing students for transfer into their dream universities.
Yhone, a biology student, plans to transfer from De Anza to a four-year institution next fall. He has his sights set on two San Francisco Bay Area gems — Stanford or, failing that, Berkeley — just as international students are getting more scrutiny than ever from the Trump administration, provoking anxiety among them.
Yhone is one of 14,000 international students enrolled in California’s community colleges as of fall 2023, with the largest shares clustered at institutions in the Bay Area. Public two-year colleges, though better known for educating U.S. students from their immediate area, enrollroughly 12% of international students in California. Some community colleges have made overseas recruiting a specialty, as a way to boost tuition revenue and add cultural variety to their campuses.
International enrollment attracts more attention at higher-profile bachelor’s degree-granting campuses such as the University of Southern California and UC San Diego. Some people are surprised to learn that community colleges have substantial numbers.However, more international students attended community colleges in California in the 2023-24 school year than in any other state.
But with the Trump administration’s visa policies possibly discouraging their enrollment, the number of international students who will re-enroll next school year is an important question for California community colleges. Some community colleges, like De Anza, now depend on international students for as much as 7% of enrollment.
Media reports estimate that as many as 4,700 international students nationwide have had their visas abruptly revoked in recent weeks, including more than a dozen California community college students. In what appears to be a reversal, the Trump administration shifted and said it will reactivate those visas pending a new framework for visa terminations. But anxiety remains among college staff who work most closely with them.
“You have no idea how nervous I am,” said Nazy Galoyan, De Anza College’s dean of enrollment services and head of international student programs, before news of the Trump administration’s reversal broke. “To go to California and Silicon Valley and get your education, that’s something that is absolutely a dream, right? And students really work hard toward that. What we’re going through, I don’t know, that dream might be jeopardized.”
Galoyan’s college has experienced the student visa crackdown firsthand. De Anza enrolls 1,100 international students, according to federal data for fall 2023. And at least six had their F-1 visa records terminated in the initial round of Trump administration actions. It’s not alone among community colleges in having visas canceled. Santa Monica College, which enrolls almost 1,700 international students, reported seven visa terminations.
In interviews, international students at California community colleges were happy to explain why they came to school here, but declined time and again to discuss the threat of visa terminations.
Some community colleges could feel the effects of a student visa crackdown even if their students are not directly impacted or are granted a reprieve after having a visa revoked.
There is “no indication that it will become any easier for international students to gain new visas, and the chaos caused by the government’s revocation and later reversal will likely cause even more turmoil and unease in the international student community,” said Carrie B. Kisker, a director of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Center for the Study of Community Colleges, in an email. “Without clear guidance on what international students can expect in the coming months and years, I don’t think that the government’s about-face will ease any concerns about the U.S. being a safe and welcoming place to study.”
Non-resident tuition, diversity and ‘a little bit of prestige’
In international students, community colleges see a source of higher tuition, diversity and “even a little bit of prestige,” said Linda Serra Hagedorn, a professor emeritus at Iowa State University who has studied the role of international students in community colleges.
De Anza College is among those that have cultivated students from overseas. Many enroll from Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea. But the college also gets students from Europe, Africa and Latin America — “from everywhere,” said Galoyan, who makes two trips annually to recruit students abroad, one to central Asia and another to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Nuri Illini Ahmad, who graduated from the College of San Mateo in 2019, came across the Bay Area community college while attending a recruitment fair in her home country, Malaysia. New York University and George Washington University were advertising their campuses, too, but she thought the San Mateo campus would be a better fit for her budget and interest in studying media. There was even a Malaysian student featured in the college flyer.
“We got in contact with the student, and then somehow, that person ended up being one of my closest friends as well,” she said.
International students at De Anza pay $276 per unit. At Santa Monica College, they and other nonresidents pay a total of $444 per unit — nearly 10 times as much as California residents.
But from the perspective of international students, a California community can still be a bargain. An international student on track to graduate from Santa Monica College in two years would pay $13,320 in tuition a year, assuming they don’t get any scholarships or other discounts. The same non-resident student would pay $19,770 at a California State University (CSU) campus, $50,328 at a University of California (UC) campus and $73,260 at the University of Southern California without financial aid.
Eyeing a path to top-tier universities — and, perhaps, a day at the beach
In brochures and other marketing materials, community colleges around California paint a glittering portrait of what it’s like to be an international student on their campus.
Irvine Valley College, which enrolled about 550 international students as of fall 2023, seeks to beguile prospective international students with a promotional video. “A lot of international students dream of graduating from a UC or top private university. Whatever you choose, your future starts at Irvine Valley College,” an unseen narrator intones, before the video cuts to a series of testimonials from international students. “You’ll enjoy great weather year round and world-class shopping, culture and beaches are nearby.”
Grossmont College in El Cajon, with almost 190 international students last school year, has its own promotional video interspersing images of nearby downtown San Diego and Balboa Park. Among other perks, a Grossmont website touts small classes and “camping in the desert, kayaking in San Diego Bay, and barbeques at the beach.”
Community colleges also pitch their campuses to international students as a less expensive route to a four-year degree, a place to fine-tune English language skills and prepare for bachelor’s degrees from prestigious institutions.
In fall 2024, De Anza College students who applied to aUniversity of California campus had an 81% acceptance rate; Diablo Valley and Irvine Valley students were not far behind, with roughly 80% and 79% acceptance rates to UC, respectively.
Dinara Usonova, a business major at De Anza, decided in high school in Kyrgyzstan to apply to U.S. community colleges rather than go straight to a four-year university. That, she believed, would allow her to adjust to the American higher education system and give her time to improve her English before attending a university. The cost was also attractive to Usonova, who pays rent and other living expenses on her own.
Usonova has been admitted to Berkeley and is waiting to hear from additional universities before deciding where to transfer this fall.
“Going to community college, paying cheaper tuition and getting all these kinds of experiences and building my foundation, I think it was a great choice,” she said.
‘I feel so much at home’
Statewide, international students at community colleges contributed $591 million to the California economy last school year, according to an analysis by NAFSA, a nonprofit association for higher education professionals who work with international students.
Santa Monica College’s international students added an estimated economic value of $56 million and another 245 jobs, NAFSA found.
Santa Monica’s international students, who are from about 100 different countries, contribute significant non-resident tuition revenue to the campus, said Pressian Nicolov, the college’s dean of international education, in an email. Losing those students and the nonresident tuition they bring “would result in a significant impact on college programs and, ultimately, on all students.”
But the loss of international students would not just be financial, he said.
“There would be fewer opportunities to engage with global viewpoints, fewer opportunities for domestic students to develop life-changing cross-cultural friendships and learn about diverse cultures,” Nicolov said.
Nuri Illini Ahmad, second from right, and other Malaysian MARA Scholars in their traditional clothing at the College of San Mateo’s 2016 World Village.Courtesy of Nuri Illini Ahmad
International students provide “huge value” to campus culture, Galoyan at De Anza added. Many experience culture shock when they first arrive, but most adapt and become active in the community, joining clubs and even the student government.
That’s the case for Yhone, who is the legislative liaison for the Inter Club Council, a coordinating body for more than 60 student clubs at De Anza. Since enrolling, he has also helped to reactivate two clubs: the De Anza Red Cross and the Business Information Technology Club.
“There are so many opportunities, so many clubs to expose yourself to here,” Yhone said.
Ahmad,the student who finished at San Mateo, succeeded in earning a four-year degree from a U.S. college — and then some. She earned a bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University, then advanced to a master’s program at Columbia University.
For now, Ahmad is watching the U.S. from London, where she’s seeking work as a freelance video producer after a job in New York ended abruptly, forcing her to leave the country. If she were a high school senior today, she said, she would probably start college in the U.S. all over again. “I know it sounds weird saying this,” she said, “but I feel so much at home when I was there.”
