Universities Beg International Students to Return to U.S. Before Trump Takes Office to Avoid Travel Bans: ‘Be Physically Present’

Universities across the country are pleading with international students to return to the U.S. before President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, citing fears he could institute a strict travel ban on day one, CNN reported Thursday.

Such a ban could prevent many students with student visas from returning, depending on their home countries.

Weeks before last month’s election, Trump vowed to potentially expand a first-term ban preventing people from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.. Four weeks before he takes office, those who could be affected by such a ban are being told to be proactive.

In an article published earlier this month, the student-led news site at the University of Southern California reported the school’s international students risked being left out of the country if they waited to return to Los Angeles a full week before Trump’s inauguration.

USC told those students in an email, “While there’s no certainty [a travel ban] will be issued, the safest way to avoid any challenges is to be physically present in the U.S. before the Spring semester begins on January 13, 2025.”

According to CNN, there are 17,000 international students enrolled at USC and more than 1.1 million enrolled at schools nationwide.

Cornell issued the following advisory to students:

A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration. The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India. International students and scholars from outside of these “areas of concern” are not likely to be affected by a travel ban or targeted visa suspension. People who are not citizens of these countries but are in transit through them to the U.S. are unlikely to be affected.

It is a good idea for international students, faculty, and staff from the above countries to be back in the U.S. in advance of the semester, which begins January 21, 2025. If this is not possible (e.g., for scheduled fieldwork), communicate with an advisor about your travel plans and be prepared for delays.

Other schools — from UCLA to New York University — have issued similar warnings to international students.

Gabrielle Balreira Fontenelle Mota, a 21-year-old NYU journalism student from Brazil, told CNN, “I’m not from a Muslim country or from China, which are places that Trump usually criticizes. So I don’t feel as vulnerable as other international students.”

She added, “What makes me a little bit more concerned is the ideological screenings that (Trump) said he will be implementing.”

At a campaign event in September alongside GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, Trump said, “I will ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban.”

“Remember the famous travel ban?” he asked. “We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world. We’re not taking them from infested countries.”