United States President Donald Trump has assured Chinese students in the country that they will not be unfairly treated, despite his government’s recent tough stance on foreign students.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said, “They’re going to be ok. It’s going to work out fine.”
He explained that the government only wants to review the background of students studying in the US, especially those from China.
“We just want to check out the individual students we have. And that’s true with all colleges,” he said.
This softer comment came after a federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump’s attempt to stop Harvard University from admitting new international students. The move was part of his wider effort to monitor foreign presence in American schools.
Earlier in the week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration would “aggressively” revoke visas of Chinese students. Thousands of visas have already been cancelled — many over students’ participation in protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza, and others over minor offences like traffic violations.
Rubio’s actions are part of a growing dispute between the Trump administration and top US universities. Harvard University has been at the centre of the controversy after the government requested a list of certain international students. The school has refused to share that list.
“I don’t know why Harvard’s not giving us the list,” Trump said on Friday. “There’s something going on because Harvard is not giving us a list.”
He added, “They ought to give us a list and get themselves out of trouble. They don’t want to give the list because they have names on there that supposedly are quite bad.”
At Harvard’s graduation this week, University President Alan Garber received loud support from students and staff. He was cheered for a full minute after urging universities to stand strong against what he called a campaign against students and academic freedom.
In his comments, Trump repeated that his government wants people who “love our country and take care of our country and cherish our country.”
International students currently make up less than six percent of the US university population. In comparison, international students make up about 25 percent of the student body in the United Kingdom.
