Trump is quietly targeting foreign students: Columbia’s secret clause is just the beginning

What began as a bureaucratic crackdown on antisemitism has morphed into a sweeping redefinition of U.S. higher education’s global role.

Under the Trump administration, American universities are being strong-armed into cutting their reliance on international students—marking a profound shift in education, immigration, and ideology, all under the radar.

At the center of this transformation is a quietly brokered agreement with Columbia University, signed on July 23, 2025. While publicly framed as a response to antisemitism on campus, the deal includes a little-noticed clause requiring Columbia to “decrease financial dependence on international student enrollment.” This single sentence—buried on page nine—may become the blueprint for federal pressure on universities nationwide.

The effort is reportedly being led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and strategist May Mailman, whose track record includes dismantling immigration pathways and reshaping public institutions to fit a more insular vision of America. This latest front targets elite universities seen as “too global,” too dependent on foreign talent, and too resistant to the administration’s nationalist agenda.

Columbia isn’t alone. Brown University is also under investigation, but escaped similar enrollment mandates—likely because only 14% of its student body is international, compared to Columbia’s nearly 40%. The message is clear: institutions that lean global will be punished.

The economic costs of this pivot are staggering. International students added $44 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 378,000 jobs in 2023–24. They dominate STEM fields, comprising over 70% of full-time graduate students in computer science and electrical engineering. Strangling this pipeline risks hollowing out the very sectors the U.S. claims to lead.

But it doesn’t stop at enrollment. The administration is also targeting post-graduation pathways. Plans to dismantle Optional Practical Training (OPT), STEM OPT extensions, and alter the H-1B visa system would block international graduates from entering the workforce. Proposed changes to the “duration of status” rule would impose more red tape, increasing the risk of deportation for minor administrative lapses.

Economist Madeline Zavodny warns of a looming enrollment cliff: without international students and the children of immigrants, U.S. higher education could lose over 6 million students by 2037. Their absence wouldn’t just shrink classrooms—it would stall domestic STEM participation, weaken research output, and undermine innovation. A quarter of billion-dollar U.S. startups were founded by former international students.

Trump’s floated idea of capping international enrollment at elite universities like Harvard to 15% signals where this is headed: isolationism cloaked as reform.

The Columbia agreement is more than a settlement—it’s a prototype. With over 50 universities under investigation, this model of coercive compliance could be replicated nationally. At stake is not just tuition revenue or rankings, but the soul of American academia.

By embedding immigration restrictions into education policy, the Trump administration is turning universities from engines of global knowledge into tools of nationalist gatekeeping.