Trump targeting universities and international students weakens U.S.

There’s no doubt that bloated government bureaucracies need pruning—like an overgrown forest choking off light and life beneath. Universities, too, have often lost their way, nurturing ideological extremes and tolerating open defiance of civil norms. Harvard and other elite institutions have enabled left-wing extremism, including support for Hamas and a disturbing rise in antisemitism. Free speech has suffered, and accountability has waned. These institutions must be held to U.S. laws and ethical standards.

But President Trump’s response—slashing research funding and targeting international students—isn’t pruning. It’s setting fire to the entire forest. And in the process, he’s threatening the very roots of America’s scientific leadership, economic prosperity, and global influence.

U.S. competitive edge in doubt

The global competitiveness of the United States has always depended on its universities—on their openness to talent and their commitment to research. From the microchip to the biotech revolution, many of the innovations that defined modern America were born in academic labs. They were powered by brilliant minds drawn from around the world and sustained by public funding. The internet (UCLA), Google’s search algorithm (Stanford), GPS (MIT), and mRNA vaccines (UPenn) all originated in U.S. universities. So did breakthroughs in clean energy, artificial intelligence, and cancer treatments—like CRISPR gene-editing and immunotherapies. Now, due to Trump’s actions, even life-saving cancer research is being halted midstream as federal grants are frozen and labs shut down.

Harvard University, long considered a beacon for international scholars, has had its authority to enroll foreign students revoked. Over $2.7 billion in federal research funding has been frozen. MIT has announced cuts to graduate admissions and layoffs of research staff. The University of California system is engaged in lawsuits to stop NIH grant reductions. All of this will significantly harm American scientific progress.

The casualties are not just academic departments—they include cancer trials, climate research, vaccine development, and national security projects in quantum computing and cybersecurity. Hundreds of labs across the country are reporting frozen budgets, canceled contracts, and the departure of top talent. Institutions like Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and the University of Michigan have warned that essential federally funded research in public health, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy is now at risk.

Although a federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration’s attempt to strip Harvard of its authority to enroll international students, the damage is already done. The legal reprieve doesn’t undo the chilling effect on global talent or the disruption to research programs already underway. The uncertainty alone has weakened America’s standing as the global destination for cutting-edge innovation.

This decline is especially tragic given the historic accomplishments of American research institutions. Public investments in university science have given us not just medical miracles and digital revolutions, but entire industries. NIH and NSF funding helped spawn biotech, clean-tech, and nanotech. DARPA grants gave us GPS and the early internet. These are the roots of the U.S. innovation economy. Undermining them is like ripping out the foundation of a skyscraper mid-construction.

Success of immigrants

And it’s not just the research funding that’s under attack—it’s the people who bring that research to life. For decades, the United States enjoyed the greatest free lunch in the history of education and entrepreneurship: the smartest students from India, China, and across the globe came to study here. They didn’t just learn. They stayed. They built companies. They created jobs.

Immigrants have played a starring role in nearly every American success story of the past half-century. More than half of Silicon Valley’s startups were founded by immigrants. A 2022 report from the National Foundation for American Policy found that 55% of America’s unicorn startups—those valued at over $1 billion—were started by immigrants. That list includes companies like Tesla, Google, Intel, PayPal, Moderna, and Zoom.

In science and medicine, the pattern is the same. Foreign-born researchers are disproportionately represented among Nobel Prize winners in the U.S., among faculty at leading universities, and among the inventors behind patents filed by top American institutions. More than 75% of patents from U.S. research universities list at least one foreign-born inventor.

And yet, the Trump administration has gone out of its way to block these very contributors. During the pandemic, it attempted to revoke the visas of international students attending online classes. Visa processing delays have become routine. Highly skilled immigrants, including PhDs and postdocs, now face long waits, opaque rules, and rising uncertainty. The result? A slow-moving brain drain has become a stampede. Talented researchers are heading to Europe, Canada, and Australia instead.

I warned of this scenario in my book The Immigrant Exodus more than a decade ago. At the time, it was a cautionary tale. Today, it’s an unfolding reality. We are witnessing a deliberate dismantling of the U.S. innovation ecosystem—one visa and one research grant at a time.

To be clear, not all criticism of universities is unwarranted. There is bloat. There is waste. And some institutions have failed to uphold the principles of academic neutrality. But that doesn’t justify blind destruction. There’s a difference between pruning a tree and torching the orchard.

International students boost economy

Even from a purely economic perspective, these policies are indefensible. International students alone contribute over $40 billion annually to the U.S. economy. They pay full tuition. They rent housing. They spend in their local communities. Many go on to become entrepreneurs, taxpayers, and job creators. Meanwhile, research funding supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in every state. It powers startups, anchors regional economies, and drives the industries of tomorrow. Weakening that foundation doesn’t just harm universities—it weakens America.

The cruel irony is that these policies will hurt the very people Trump claims to defend: working Americans. When universities lose research grants, they cut faculty and staff. When international students go elsewhere, local businesses—from coffee shops to apartment complexes—take the hit. When breakthroughs are delayed or lost, America loses its competitive edge—and the jobs and industries that follow.

China doesn’t need to outspend America to win the innovation race. It only needs to watch the United States unravel its own lead. And that’s exactly what’s happening.

Still, I haven’t lost hope.

The United States has stumbled before—and corrected course. The backlash to these policies is growing. Universities are fighting back. Business leaders are speaking out. Courts are stepping in. My hope is that this is just another Trumpian overreach—damaging, yes, but ultimately reversible.

America’s strength has always come from its openness: to new people, to bold ideas, and to investment in the future. It was immigrants and research grants that built the internet, cured disease, and launched the industries that power our economy today. If we remember that—and act on it—this won’t be the beginning of America’s decline, but a painful detour on the road to renewal.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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