Issue Briefs

About

Colleges and universities across the U.S. want to ensure that the many students, researchers, faculty, medical experts, and scientists that work and study on our campuses are not adversely affected by any federal efforts to change the country’s immigration system, whether by enacting legislation to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program and so-called Dream-eligible individuals or enacting stricter border enforcement or national security travel restrictions. While we have partnered with the federal government in addressing national security threats that target our institutions and educational missions, we want to ensure those ongoing efforts do not adversely affect the many international students and faculty that work and study on our campuses. These individuals add to the diversity and excellence of colleges and universities.

International Students

A commitment to international education is an important partnership for higher education and the federal government. Educational exchanges, international students attending American colleges and universities, and foreign language and regional expertise are essential to promoting an understanding of different cultures and countries and to the peaceful resolution of world conflicts.

According to the Institute for International Education, in 2024-25, there were 1.2 million foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities and in Optional Practical Training (OPT). While the pandemic affected the accessibility of opportunities for nonimmigrant international students to study in the U.S., the higher education community is committed to rebuilding the institutional student population to pre-pandemic numbers.

The war in Gaza led to campus protests across the U.S. and unfortunate hostilities between Palestinian and Jewish students. These circumstances resulted in federal efforts to increase vetting of international student visa applicants and current visa holders and a slew of Executive Orders impacting entry to the U.S.

NAICU believes that the U.S. should monitor any fraud and abuse of the current visa process through the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), while continuing to encourage international students to study at U.S. colleges and universities. Facilitating the ability of colleges to admit and educate students from around the world is a vital national interest. It supports measures to attract and welcome international students to campuses and allows international students the full access and time needed to complete their degrees, with reasonable safeguards against the inappropriate use of student visas.

While we have worked with the federal government to ensure that institutions are diligent in preparing for and responding to threats while continuing to protect international students studying on U.S. campuses, we continue to support lifting restrictions on international student and faculty visas, and appropriately staffing U.S. consular offices overseas to address ongoing visa processing delays. We also support maintaining the OPT Program and the Homeland Security Academic Advisory Committee at the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration

Early in his first administration, President Trump was active in attempting to deport illegal aliens in the U.S. with criminal backgrounds and imposing temporary travel bands to and from predominantly Muslim countries in an effort to reduce terrorism. His second administration renewed deportation efforts immediately after his inauguration, and they continue to present day. He has followed through on campaign promises to reshape immigration policy largely through executive actions, not legislatively via Congress.

Similar to his first term, President Trump has issued extensive travel bans that impact temporary visas, including student visas. The Trump administration has also pushed out policy changes that include the Duration of Status Proposed Rule, which would eliminate the current admission status for international students from the duration of their educational program to a fixed time period, and additional impactful changes to the H-1B visa program, which largely affects international faculty and researchers.

Longer standing immigration issues like the status of the DACA Program and legislative priorities for similar individuals remain in limbo. 

DACA

DACA refers to individuals who came to the United States as children and have registered under the DACA program established during the Obama Administration. The DACA program provided qualified individuals with a two-year safe harbor from deportation proceedings and a work permit. Recipients of DACA status had to adhere to certain legal requirements, including travel requirements, as part of their designated DACA status. Currently, the DACA program has stopped accepting new applications and will require action by Congress to be made permanent. This is unlikely to happen, however, given the opposition to the program by many Members of Congress who instead favor a permanent legislative solution like the Dream Act. 

DREAM Act

A 1982 court ruling made it illegal to deny access to a public K-12 education to any child in the U.S. regardless of immigration status. While there is no similar requirement for obtaining a higher education, the vast majority of colleges and universities in the U.S. admit and educate undocumented students.

There is legislation introduced each year in Congress to create a path to citizenship for children brought to the U.S. Known as the Dream Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors), this measure allows children who arrived in the U.S. prior to age 16 to have expedited access to legal permanent resident status. It also allows students to work, attend school, join the military, and be eligible for certain types of financial aid.

While the DREAM Act continues to enjoy bipartisan support, it remains indefinitely held up in Congress by efforts to assemble comprehensive immigration legislation that fail to garner enough support to pass either the House or the Senate.