Secretary Marco Rubio: US to 'Aggressively Revoke' Chinese Student Visas

TEMP.CO, Jakarta - The United States (US) will “aggressively revoke" visas from Chinese students, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, as reported by Aljazeera, as President Donald Trump’s administration continues its crackdown on foreign students enrolled in US higher education institutions.

Rubio announced the surprise move in a post on X, as well as a State Department statement published on Wednesday night titled “New Visa Policies Put America First, Not China”.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” the statement said.

Rubio said the US government would change its visa criteria to be more selective in screening all visa applications from China and Hong Kong.

China is the second-largest source of foreign students in the US, after India. Chinese students will make up a quarter of all foreign students in the US during the 2023-24 academic year, totaling more than 270,000.

The move against Chinese students comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, after Trump accused China of exploiting the US on trade and sparked a tariff war when he returned to the White House for a second term.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives have also called ties between US and Chinese academic institutions a threat to national security.

Many children of top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials are known to have attended prestigious US universities. The daughter of Chinese President Xi Jinping, for example, studied under a pseudonym at Harvard University and graduated in 2014.

Earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump suggested that Harvard should allow only 15 percent of all new students to come from abroad each year.

He said some foreign students are "very dangerous" and "troublemakers", and he asked Harvard to provide the government with a list of foreign students and their countries of origin.

"There are many of our people who want to go to Harvard and other universities, but they can't because of the foreign students there," Trump said. "I want to make sure that those foreign students can love our country."

For the 2024–25 academic year, Harvard enrolls 6,793 international students, or 27.2 percent of the university’s total student body.

China sends the most students to Harvard with 2,100, followed by India (790), South Korea (430), Japan (260), and Singapore (150).

Trump also asserted that it is the United States, not other countries, that has invested in the Massachusetts-based university.

He questioned why top US educational institutions like Harvard accept so many foreign students.

Trump, who has frozen some federal funding for Harvard, reiterated his desire to redirect public funds to vocational schools.

The goal is for these schools to be the best in the world and teach skills such as building cars and working with artificial intelligence (AI).

Trump’s remarks are part of his administration’s efforts to pressure Harvard to change its policies, including faculty recruitment. Harvard has been accused of being too liberal and harboring antisemitism.

The US government has tightened its vetting of foreign students, saying they pose a national security threat.

The Trump administration has also criticized Harvard and other leading universities for failing to prevent protests against Israel’s alleged abuses of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

For those reasons, visa interviews for foreign students at all US embassies have been suspended, clouding their hopes of continuing their education in the country.

Rubio’s announcement adds to the uncertainty for international students in the US, who have faced heightened scrutiny in recent months amid a broader government crackdown on higher education institutions.

On Tuesday, the White House also temporarily suspended visa processing for foreign students, ordering embassies and consulates not to issue additional student or exchange visas “until further guidance is issued.”

The US State Department also said it planned to “issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applications.”

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