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Law360 (March 19, 2021, 7:13 PM EDT) -- New international student enrollment in American schools dropped 72% in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of Trump-era immigration policies, according to a Friday report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
International student enrollment across the board declined by 17.8% from 2019 to 2020, a downward trend the agency said "reflected the impact of the global pandemic."
The report on the U.S. international student population, which ICE releases annually, is based on data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, ICE's online database on international students and their dependents currently in the U.S.
According to the report, the number of international students to enroll in U.S. programs in January 2020 was "on par" with enrollment in January 2019. However, American colleges saw "dramatic decreases" in their new foreign student enrollment last August and September, when most universities began their academic year.
Overall international student enrollment declined in colleges throughout the U.S., but the Northeast, which ICE called "an early epicenter for COVID-19," had the greatest drop at 19.4%, ICE said.
Though the agency attributed the decline to the global health emergency, it was silent on whether a flurry of Trump-era immigration policies depressed foreign student enrollment.
Over the summer, ICE released guidance directing international students to leave the U.S., or risk deportation, if their universities go fully virtual due to the pandemic. The policy was announced in July, well past most deadlines to transfer to a school with in-person instruction.
The guidance sparked outcry from universities and immigration advocates across the country, with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filing suit to peel the policy back. The Trump administration announced it was abandoning the directive during a court hearing.
The Trump administration again prompted backlash in September when it proposed putting fixed time limits on student visas. The policy would have required foreign students to apply for visa extensions after two- or four-year periods, instead of the visa remaining valid until they completed their degrees.
In addition to targeting student visas, the Trump administration suggested scrapping the H-1B visa lottery and instead allocating the work visas to candidates offered the highest salaries. The federal immigration agency said that entry-level hires paid at the lowest salary tiers — likely international students hired right out of college — would likely be blocked from the H-1B visa under the proposed system.
Experts predicted that the policy, which the Biden administration has recently paused, would chill international student enrollment in U.S. schools.
--Editing by Daniel King.
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