INTERNATIONAL: When Nigerian correspondent Adefemola Akintade got her admission into Columbia Journalism School, it meant the realisation of an ultimate aspiration. But just as she was readying to start her visa application procedure, the Trump administration declared an unexpected deferral of new foreign student visa interviews, disrupting her ambitions, and disturbing the plans of thousands all over the world.
In a recent CNN report, the 31-year-old said, “I don’t know what to do,” with an apparent disbelief in her voice. “This is something I’ve always wanted… I put all my eggs in one basket—in Columbia.” Like many transnational students admitted to U.S. institutions, Akintade had already accomplished her enrollment payments and made life-changing choices, only to be left without a clear path forward.
The move came as the U.S. State Department ordered embassies and legations to stop the scheduling of new student visa arrangements amid plans to expand social media screening, raising new uncertainties about freedom of expression and political examination.
Fear and self-censorship in the age of surveillance
The deferment of visas is only the most recent in a sequence of migration and education-related clampdowns under the Trump administration. With further inspection of applicants’ social media activity, students are now reconsidering, to the point of over-analysing, the digital traces of their lives.
One Canadian student admitted into Harvard Law School labelled the upsetting predicament of whether to remove a Pride post featuring a trans banner. “I don’t know how to feel about that,” she said. “It’s real proof that it is a fear campaign that is incredibly successful.” Nonetheless, she kept the post but altered the subtitle and later postponed her admission, dreading more obstructive actions to come.
Others have taken more decisive moves. Conrad Kunadu, a British learner who planned to pursue a PhD in Environmental Health at Johns Hopkins, eventually opted to remain in the UK, signing up at Oxford instead. “I just don’t know if this is an environment that I actually want to be in,” he said, alluding to an increasing anxiety that something he posted many years ago could result in extradition.
Uncertainty, loss, and the global impact on academia
For thousands of others, the ramifications go beyond personal disenchantment—it is an indication of a larger threat to academic autonomy and international synergy. “It’s incredibly distressing as an American to hear that,” said Michael Kagan, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Nevada. “From a legal point of view, that concern is totally rational.”
The effect is extensive. Over 1.1 million transnational students have registered in U.S. higher education institutions in the 2023–24 academic year, contributing not only to the economy but also to the intellectual potency and resilience of the American academic world.
Some organisations, like Harvard, are resisting. However, for many students, like Oliver Cropley from the UK, who was set to attend Kansas University via a scholarship, the circumstances look miserable. “It just feels like a kick when you are already down,” he said, now compelled into a “waiting game” with no obvious explanations.
For Akintade, the policy change brings a more profound, emotional implication. “This is the message I’m getting: we don’t want you,” she said. Her voice, just like many others, reverberates the increasing feeling of denial among those once attracted to the U.S. for the opportunities it offers, but now left seeking new prospects.