Marco Rubio: US to ‘aggressively’ revoke visas of Chinese students

The U.S. will “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday in an escalation of the Trump administration’s conflicts with China and academia.

Rubio’s announcement did not specify how many students would lose their ability to study in the U.S., but suggested the effort would focus on people with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or those studying sensitive subjects.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. 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,” he said in a statement. “We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.”

The State Department’s targeting of Chinese students reflects how worsening geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China have poisoned the two nations’ long-standing educational ties.

It also appeared to catch even some in the government off-guard. A consular official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of a ban on talking to journalists, expressed surprise at the directive, saying U.S. embassies have received no instructions about it.

About 277,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S. last year, making them the second largest group of foreign students in the U.S., after people from India.

Even if just a threat, Rubio’s announcement is likely to decisively end the popularity of U.S. universities and colleges for Chinese students.

“The chilling effect on Chinese students choosing the United States as their preferred place to go for study will be enormous,” said Rosie Levine, executive director of the US-China Education Trust, a nonprofit education group. “There are some 99 million Communist Party members in China, so depending on how they enforce this, it could catch up probably every Chinese student interested in coming to the United States who could have some Communist Party connection within their background.”

It would also hurt U.S. institutions, which have come to rely on foreign students to help offset the cost of providing financial aid to Americans. And it comes as President Donald Trump exerts pressure on colleges and universities to address allegations of antisemitism by threatening to withhold federal funding and grants.

The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even those who say the U.S. has legitimate security concerns say a broad revocation of visas may be unproductive. 

“The U.S. government needs to take into account risks of non-traditional espionage, but the way they’re drawing these boundaries is too broad and too undefined,” said Mary Gallagher, dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame University and an expert on Chinese politics. “ All universities in China are in some ways affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, so it seems to me overreach and damaging to not just U.S.- China educational exchange, but also to U.S. science and technological competitiveness.”

An exodus of Chinese students may also deprive the U.S. of skills and expertise that are valuable to the economy, especially in the tech sector. 

“If you go around Silicon Valley, you see thousands of Chinese students or former Chinese students who are making enormous contributions to the United States, to our entrepreneurship,” said Stephen Orlins, president of the nonprofit National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. “Revoking their visas will cut off the pipeline and create long term damage to the United States.”

Rubio’s targeting of the students is the latest in a series of moves in Washington to address the perceived national security threat posed by China through academia.

The House passed legislation earlier this month that will deny Department of Homeland Security funding to U.S. colleges and universities that partner with Chinese academic institutions linked to Beijing’s security apparatus — a distinction that includes major institutions such as Duke University.

Higher education has long been a focus of the Department of Justice’s probes of foreign espionage operations — though not without controversy. The DOJ’s now-defunct China Initiative, a program launched in the first Trump administration targeting Chinese academics at U.S. universities, was accused of racial profiling and conducting flawed investigative work.

Republicans were quick to offer support of the administration’s threat to revoke visas.