That is the reality 20 current and past Utah students at a variety of colleges are having to face, along with 1,800 students nationwide who had their legal status changed overnight. With little to no reasoning for these deportations, these students have to throw their future in America away.

Deportations can occur from an immigrant committing a crime as small as a traffic violation, but many of the students who have been deported have no known interactions with the law at all. A Chinese UCLA student’s visa was revoked for taking part in Palestine protests. As a legal immigrant the Constitution does apply to her, however Donald Trump and ICE seemed to not care. Deporting someone for exercising their First Amendment rights is just unconstitutional.

It’s true that many student visas have since been reactivated. But that has not necessarily alleviated foreign students’ fears. As The Guardian reported, “The news has brought some relief but not a full resolution, with some students saying the change has already caused irreparable harm.” Imagine being in these international students’ shoes. You would not be able to let your guard down, especially with the unpredictable future that is to come.

Being a college student is stressful enough, let alone as an immigrant in America in 2025 with a president who is anti-immigrant. Oftentimes the anti-immigration argument is that they bring crime and danger to our already “super safe” country. But some students have had their visas revoked for speeding tickets. If this is the crime politicians are afraid of, we have a whole different problem. The belief that immigrants, more specifically Mexican immigrants, bring crime and drugs into the U.S. has been debunked time and again. In fact, according to the American Immigration council, “immigrants–including undocumented immigrants–are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born.” The correlation between crime and immigrants is, at best, grossly overstated. And even if someone could prove that immigrants were responsible for bringing crime to the U.S., it’s hard to believe the bad actors are students.

The students who are taking advantage of the opportunity to receive schooling in the U.S. are contributing and enriching campuses all over the country, including those in our own state. The University of Utah published a statement after the initial deportations stating, “Our 3,000 international students and scholars are an essential part of what makes the University of Utah the place that it is–a vibrant and creative community of people of different life experiences, geographies, faiths and perspectives.” This describes international students’ presence perfectly. These humans bring such important diversity and depth to Utah that it needs. My own experience with international students has been positive. Every international student I’ve interacted with on Utah campuses has only brought love, joy, and gratitude for learning to those around them. I urge you to look out for your international friends, as they may need support more now than ever.

Abigail Christensen

Northern Utah Academy for Math Engineering and Science

Layton