Different Views on Trump Administration’s Student Activist Crackdown
Ask students: How will international students being forced to return home after losing their visas affect the economy and foreign policy?
According to attorneys, over 1,000 student visas have been revoked in the Trump administration’s crackdown. Part of that effort has been a State Department argument that some students’ actions threaten U.S. foreign policy interests. Nick Schifrin discussed more with former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council of Foreign Relations.
View the transcript of the story.
Key Term
due process — legal rights protecting an individual. Both citizens and non-citizens in the U.S. have the right to due process.
Discussion Questions
- Who are the individuals and groups mentioned in this story?
- What is the reason Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited for revoking student visas or deporting international students?
- How will international students being forced to return home after losing their visas affect the economy and foreign policy, according to Richard Haass?
- Why have visas been revoked in cases of students expressing pro-Palestinian sentiments?
- Where were protests taking place that were mentioned in this story?
Focus Questions
- What is the role of due process in incidents of students' visas being revoked, according to Wolf and Haass?
- Do you agree with Chad Wolf's assessment that the students' visas being revoked is not a matter of free speech? Explain.
- Media literacy: What viewpoints were represented in this story? What viewpoints were left out of this discussion that you would have liked to have heard more from?
Extension Activity
Learn more about due process guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.
Read some background about the amendment here.
Next, read Section 1 of the amendment here:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Read the rest of the amendment here.
Answer the following question in your notebook/computer. Share your responses with a partner or class.
Ask Students: Do you think due process (protections under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution) for the students whose visas have been revoked are being followed? Explain.
If you are not sure, how could you find out? Try looking up specific cases like the ones mentioned in the News Hour story, including Aaron Ortega Gonzalez; a British graduate student only identified as Jane Doe; Yunseo Chung and Mahmoud Khalil. Rubio mentioned there have been about 300 student visas that have been revoked, but attorneys said the number is around 1000 (see introduction).
Additional Resources
- More than 200 college presidents and other officials signed a letter Tuesday protesting the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” that higher education is facing under the Trump administration. For more information, click here: Read the full letter from universities opposing ‘government intrusion’
- More than 50 universities face federal investigations under Trump’s anti-DEI campaign
- Recent threats to federal funding and arrests of international students have created a sense of unease on many college campuses. A trio of editors at student newspapers across the country share a unique perspective about what they are seeing on the ground and how campus communities are reacting. WATCH: How college communities are reacting to funding threats, international student arrests
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Republished with permission from PBS NewsHour Classroom.
PBS News Hour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories. The site combines the best of News Hour's reliable, trustworthy news program with lesson plans developed specifically for... See More
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