We're 'poker chips': International Harvard students describe fear after Trump administration

[Passages]

We’re ‘poker chips’: International Harvard students describe fear after Trump administration moves to revoke their enrollment

By Lauren Kent, Aria Chen, Billy Stockwell and Anna Chernova, CNN

Published 4:17 PM EDT, Fri May 23, 2025

CNN
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International Harvard students say they are experiencing “pure panic” amid the Trump administration’s move to bar foreign enrollment, as students from around the world told CNN they are coming to grips with the possibility of revoked visas, suspended research and being blocked from reentry to the United States if they leave this summer.

A federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s ban on Friday, after the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college filed a suit in federal court. Harvard argued revocation of its certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program was “clear retaliation” for its refusal of the government’s ideologically rooted policy demands.

But thousands of international students remain in limbo, and are “very clearly, extremely afraid” because they don’t know their current their legal status, Harvard student body co-president Abdullah Shahid Sial, who is from Lahore, Pakistan, told CNN.

“They’re literally like, teenagers, thousands of miles away from their hometowns having to deal with this situation, which lawyers often fear to engage in,” said Sial, who is currently traveling overseas after exams and is uncertain if he’ll be able to return to campus.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/23/world/harvard-international-students-trump-intl

[Walleye]

1. And Trump doesn't know the difference between Harvard and Harlem