CHICAGO (WLS) — Around 280,000 Chinese students are enrolled in universities across the United States, with thousands studying in Chicago and throughout Illinois.
However, due to uncertainty about potential changes to their visa status, many students are wondering if they will be able to finish their degrees.
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On the University of Chicago’s campus Thursday there was fear and consternation. Much of the university’s international student body is Chinese.
“I’m an atmospheric scientist. I just graduated and started my postdoc here in the Geophysical Sciences Department,” Jin Yan said.
Yan, who has lived in Chicago for more than five years and is applying for a green card, is now uncertain if she can stay in the country, or if she even wants to continue her life here.
It’s the same story for Zi Tian, who is in the midst of getting his Ph.D. in geophysical sciences.
It’s unclear if theirs are among the “critical fields” Secretary of State Marco Rubio was referring to Wednesday when he said in a social media post on X, “The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”
“I’m just an individual, and I think my personal effort is not going to be able to fight against a government action like this,” Tian said.
During a press briefing Thursday, a State Department spokesperson called every visa adjudication a national security decision, saying, “I have no idea what the numbers will be. What I do know is that the people who are deemed to be a threat to the country or a problem now will be vetted again or looked at seriously, and Americans will be safer. That’s the story here.”
Grace Chan McKibben came to the United States 41 years ago as a student from Hong Kong.
Speaking in Chinatown Thursday, she expressed concern about singling out students solely for Communist Party membership.
“Folks that might want particular academic opportunities or employment opportunities might join the party. It may not specifically be related to their ideology,” said Chan McKibben, who is part of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community.
Most of the state’s major universities did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which has one of the largest Chinese student bodies in the nation, with more than 6,000 currently enrolled, said they, like others, are really still trying to figure out what this all means and how to best support their students moving forward.
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