The Trump administration has revoked more than 6,000 international student visas, according to the administration’s most recent figures, and introduced new vetting procedures that have deterred thousands more from applying. This August, international student admissions in the United States declined by 19% compared to the same month in 2024.
Though no Lewis & Clark students have lost their visas, the ripple effects of these national policies are acutely felt on campus.
The Mossy Log spoke to two international students about their experiences managing the current political climate. These students were granted anonymity because publicly criticizing the administration could endanger their immigration statuses.
Students and administrators describe an atmosphere of uncertainty as new travel bans, documentation rules and surveillance measures reshape what it means to study in the U.S. as an international student.
An anonymous first-year student discussed her perceptions of this fear.
“There’s overwhelming paranoia for me but also for pretty much every single international students, that everything they do, every single decision they make, could end up backfiring for them, that it could be in violation of some obscure labor law or they filled out one slightly wrong thing on their visa renewal, and they’re not going to get back in,” she said.
At LC, the International Students and Scholars Office has long supported international students with matters such as visa issuance, documentation, finances and emotional well-being. However, under the Trump administration, the office has encountered an influx of new barriers.
From late May to mid-June new visa appointments came to a halt as the administration ramped up efforts to reshape the screening process by mandating social media disclosure and increasingly thorough vetting of applicants. According to the Trump administration, these measures have been taken in the interest of national security. But in recent months, the motives behind these additional barriers have come under scrutiny from both students and faculty, both nationwide and at LC.
In an interview with The Mossy Log, Associate Dean of Students and Director of International Students Brian White spoke to the effect of the administration’s approach to immigration.
“Since the new administration has taken over there’s been no evidence of support or welcome in their approach to international students. … I think they’ve introduced a lot of uncertainty that wasn’t there before,” White said.
White highlighted that international students serve as a convenient political tool for the administration.
“Politically, it’s often easier and more potent to be against something than for it. The international students being here is something that he and his administration can be against without it costing them a single vote,” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with national security … that’s just a fiction.”
Besides some of the administrative complications described by international students and White, the federal government’s recent attitudes toward immigration have also introduced an atmosphere of tension and anxiety across campus.
“It’s stressful,” White said. “Everybody’s wires are tighter than they were a year ago. It’s not easy right now. It’s like trying to fix the weather … it’s beyond what we can control.”
Among the many forms of screening that the U.S. administration has recently implemented is social media vetting. Applicants are now required to list all social media usernames from the past five years on their visa application, including platforms they no longer use. All social media accounts must remain public during the visa processing time.
In March, Axios reported that the Secretary of State Marco Rubio would begin an initiative using artificial intelligence to scan social media accounts and other materials to revoke visas of those participating in “Hamas-supporting disruptions.”
On Aug. 19, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced a policy update affirming that “USCIS considers factors involving circumstances where an alien has endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused the views of an anti-American or terrorist organization or group, including those who support or promote antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, and antisemitic ideologies, to be an overwhelmingly negative factor in USCIS discretionary analyses.”
According to the first-year international student, this includes any response to foreign policy that goes against the views of the administration, specifically in regards to Palestine, as well as anything construed as anti-American.
As of Nov. 5, 2025, over 80,000 non-immigrant visas have been revoked since Trump’s inauguration. In an effort to keep students informed, this school year, the International Students and Scholars Office has been hosting informational sessions. For the first-year student, the office has been a source of safety and support amidst the surge of uncertainty.
“I feel that Lewis & Clark … feels very, very safe. And I feel that the International Students and Scholar’s Office is more than willing to help me with any of my troubles,” she said.
On Aug. 27, the administration proposed a set of changes to the visa duration status as part of a larger express effort to end foreign student visa abuse.
According to White, this would replace the current system in which visa holders retain valid immigration status even after visa expiration as long as they do not leave the country. Previously, foreign students were admitted into the U.S. for an unspecified period known as “duration of status.” This designation allowed those with student visas to remain in the U.S. for an indefinite amount of time without further screening and vetting. Instead, a hard limit will be put in place, complicating the end of program time and acquisition of Optional Practical Training work permits for student visa holders, which allow students to gain employment directly related to their field of study for a maximum of 12 months.
White clarified that, thus far, no undergraduate LC students have been denied a visa because of the changes under the new administration. However, he stressed, the visa application process is more complicated due to these policy changes.
“It took every one of them longer than it would have taken otherwise,” White said.
Another complication exacerbated by the new provisions is students’ ability to travel to their home countries over the summer. As a result of the changes, many chose to stay on campus over the summer, fearing a denial of entry into the U.S. upon their return.
A second-year international student discussed his decision to stay on campus during breaks.
“I could not go home over last summer and I don’t think I will this winter either,” he said. “It is mostly because I’m afraid to not be accepted back into the United States.”
By June 2025, Trump announced a new travel ban restricting citizens from 19 countries from traveling to the U.S., expanding on the initial ban implemented in his first term. Students from the affected countries applying after the ban would be unable to obtain a visa and those who are already on campus would be unable to travel back home.
White spoke about some of the countries where LC students are coming from and the position they find themselves in.
“We had two students in this cohort that were from travel-banned countries, and neither of them are here … one from Afghanistan, and one from Iran. And the one from Afghanistan is currently enrolled as a freshman in our study abroad program in London,” White said. “He’s a Davis scholar, and we got permission to use a scholarship to fund that. Normally, we wouldn’t have them going on study abroad until their second or third year. But that’s the best we could come up with to get him started on our scholarship.”
As a result of heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement and immigration officer presence across both the city and country, some international students have their guards up, and report being advised to carry their documentation on their person at all times.
“I really, really hate lugging my passport around everywhere,” said the first-year student. “It feels humiliating because I know I’m here legally. … It’s definitely discouraged me from just going out into town.”
The second-year student said that concerns about ICE have altered the experience of living in Portland for international students.
“(ICE presence) has changed how I go downtown and I have also talked with different students who are literally scared to leave campus,” he said.
He has also had to curb his political activism since the beginning of the administration. The student expressed that those with the ability to publicly protest should do so.
“I would like to see more direct action and more standing up to the injustices happening in society by the people who are capable of it,” the second-year added.
In spite of the recent hardships, White, who has been at LC since 1997, remains optimistic for the future. He recalled various domestic and international events that have occurred in his time at the college, from the currency crisis in Southeast Asia when he first began working, then 9/11, the 2008 recession and finally the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s always gonna be something. And so I’m confident about our ability to adapt. I think this is something that’s going to be a rough patch for a while. But I don’t think it’s gonna last forever. That’s what gives me hope,” White said.
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