NBC Boston, June 2025
Recent court rulings have put a hold on some of the Trump administration’s efforts against foreign students, but one group is still particularly vulnerable: Chinese students. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the federal government would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”
“I always want the voice of Chinese students or of the Asian community to be louder in Boston,” said Kiki Wong, a recent Northeastern University sociology graduate. Wong is concerned for the quarter of a million Chinese students who are trying to finish their studies in the U.S. before they are potentially thrown out. “It still surprised us, and still shocked us,” said Wong. “Not everyone is like that, like firmly agrees or approves of the [Chinese] Communist Party.” Which fields and how close of a connection to the CCP would raise a red flag is unclear. The State Department has not elaborated.