After President Donald Trump's administration revoked hundreds of student visas and threatened deportation for participants of pro-Palestinian campus protests, international students told AFP they were reconsidering their dreams of earning degrees in the United States.
Trump has launched a crackdown on higher education in recent weeks, accusing universities including Columbia and Harvard of allowing anti-Semitism on their campuses.
In response more than 130 international students across the United States have joined a federal lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully canceling their visas, jeopardizing their legal status in the country.
But others have been deterred from stepping foot in America in the first place.
German Tariq Kandil turned down an opportunity to spend six months on exchange at the University of California, Davis, fearing he would be targeted by the US government for his social media posts criticising Trump and speaking about Palestine.
"I didn't want to have to censor myself just to be able to enter the country," the 21-year-old told AFP. "The United States is supposed to be the country of free speech."
Kandil said he was "afraid of being arrested when entering or leaving the country and finding myself in detention awaiting deportation."
He was also worried his name would attract undue scrutiny.
"Tariq Kandil isn't a typical name when you come from Europe."
- 'Study in fear' -
More than 1.1 million international students attended college or university in the United States during the 2023/24 academic year, a record figure, according to a report published by the State Department's educational bureau and the Institute of International Education.
Now Trump is aggressively targeting top universities where students protested over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, cutting off federal funds and directing immigration officers to deport student demonstrators, including those with green cards.
Rania Kettani, a Moroccan student currently living in Abu Dhabi, joined protests against Israel's conduct in the Gaza conflict while studying at New York University in 2023.
"It is inconceivable to me that, in today's context, doing the exact same thing could lead to deportation and cut short my studies," Kettani told AFP.
The 22-year-old had planned to apply for a master's degree at an American university.
"Seeing the number of students whose visas were revoked, I gave up," she said.
"I don't want to live and study in fear."
- 'A bit hostile' -
Naveen, a 26-year-old who asked to be identified with a pseudonym, is in the process of applying for a US visa after being admitted to a university there.
To prepare for his studies, he has joined online forums that share the "do's and don'ts" of being an international student in the United States.
The current situation is "a bit hostile." he told AFP.
But Naveen said he believes that revoked student visas and deportations are targeting "immigrants not following the law properly and doing illegal practices."
He is hopeful the atmosphere around higher education will improve "in a year or two." Naveen said he sees a bright future for himself in America, and wants to help the US "economy and people."
The United States could "go back to being a really happy place where people won't feel these kinds of uncertainties or any doubts in the back of their minds," he told AFP.
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