Trade talks formed the core of the visit to India by the vice-president of the United States of America, J.D. Vance. However, another issue — the plight of Indian students facing the brunt of Donald Trump’s assault on immigration and education — demands engagement between India and the US. Indian students form one of the largest constituencies among the fraternity of foreign students in American higher educational institutions. Therefore, it is not surprising that a disproportionate number of students inconvenienced by the interventions of the US state department and the US immigration and customs enforcement in the form of visa revocations as well as the termination of their legal status are from India. It has been reported that of the 327 cases of visa revocations and terminations of student and exchange visitor information system records collected by the American Immigration Lawyers Association from attorneys, students and university officials, as many as 50% pertained to Indian students. A separate data set also indicates that there has been a perceptible drop in the number of Indian students in campuses across not just the US but also the United Kingdom and Canada in the last four years. The tightening of immigration rules, caps on student intake — especially in Canada and the UK — as well as restrictions on dependent visas have been cited as the principal reasons behind this decline.
Hearteningly, in some instances, adversely affected international students — a group of Indian and Chinese students is one example — have mounted a legal challenge against Mr Trump’s purge. They would be encouraged by the fact that as many as 133 foreign students, whose SEVIS status had been annulled, have received judicial relief that has enabled them to get their SEVIS records restored. But legal protection cannot be a way out of the crisis. A resolution necessitates engagement at the highest political level to prevent bona fide international students from being subjected to harassment and unlawful institutional scrutiny; legitimate academic careers must proceed unimpeded. The consequences of a dip in Indian students in American campuses would be felt by both the US and India. More than one million international students, data from NAFSA: Association for International Educators in Washington D.C. suggest, contributed $40.1 billion to the American economy in the 2022-2023 academic year. Hawkish policies in the US, on the other hand, would deny many Indians a shot at a rewarding educational experience. The prevailing situation is untenable and must be acted upon.