Rethinking the Politics of the International Student Experience in the Age of Trump

We are living in troubling and uncertain times. Xenophobia is on the rise as right-wing, authoritarian nationalism has witnessed significant electoral gains and the very ideals of democratic inclusiveness and international pluralism are under direct attack. With the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, the country with the largest share of international students globally is increasingly becoming an unwelcoming place to study abroad. On January 27, 2017, Trump issued an executive order prohibiting entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries(Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen), and severely restricting the admission of refugees, into the United States. This initial attempt at a “Muslim travel ban” was subsequently blocked by the federal courts, yet the ongoing efforts of the current U.S. administration to discriminate against Muslim travelers at the border have had a chilling effect on international travel more generally