During the fall term, University of Oregon hosted 825 international students from 93 countries, according to UO’s website. These students could be especially impacted by the incoming Trump administration and proposals in Project 2025, leading to some feeling “concerned” and searching for campus resources.
In a Dec. 8 interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” incoming President-elect Donald Trump implied he plans on deporting all immigrants who are in the United States illegally, prioritizing those with any criminal histories. Though not officially endorsed by Trump, Project 2025, a Republican blueprint reimagining the government’s responsibilities, backs up this message and spells out the logistics.
Though it is unknown what will come to fruition, some international students say they are concerned.
“What worries me sometimes is knowing how people will treat me knowing where I’m from because I’m from Mexico and everyone knows Trump hates Mexicans … so if I tell them where I’m from people might be more biased especially now that he’s president,” senior Ana Gastelu said.
Project 2025 calls on the Department of State to “eliminate or significantly reduce the number of visas issued to foreign students” and “limit the classes of aliens eligible for work authorization.”
As a senior, Gastelu said she is looking for a job, but being born in Mexico has complicated the process. She recognized that UO does provide career workshops, but said she wanted the university to tailor support to foreign-born students.
“Give us the tools to find jobs [and] host more workshops about that because I know [UO] do[es] host stuff on how to get a job, but they’re not exactly what international students need,” Gastelu said.
Gastelu said she didn’t care much about continuing to live in the United States when she started college, but now that she is in her last year of school, she wants her U.S. education to pay off.
“It feels like I have done all this work for possibly nothing and that’s honestly nerve-racking,” Gastelu said.
Kristin Yarris, an associate professor of global studies and a leader in the UO Dreamers Working Group, said that as a professor, she is also “hearing from students who are concerned [about what the Trump administration will mean for them].”
Dreamer status is an umbrella term that refers to those brought into the United States illegally as children. The UO Dreamers Working Group assists all students who are undocumented and DACA recipients from mixed-status families. It also assists with students who went to high school in Oregon regardless of their immigration status.
Out of 5,600 staff and faculty members at UO the Dreamers group has trained 640 as Dreamer Allies, according to Justine Carpenter, assistant dean of students and a leader of the Dreamers group. These allies help students find community and navigate resources like work permits and financial aid, which are regulated differently depending on immigration status.
“We want to support students’ well-being and remove barriers for students and help them meet their academic goals,” Carpenter said. “One of the things that’s important when students come in is that they often want to find a sense of community.”
The group is run through the university, and Yarris hopes that UO will continue to support international students as a new administration comes into office.
“In this moment in 2024 we face a regime … that will attack DEI. What will UO do to protect international students who face particular threats?” Yarris said.
She voiced support for public forums and connections to community organizations that will help students with DACA renewal and other legal services.
“We can’t control everything UO… but we can make our whole selves available to our students who will be the most impacted,” Yarris said.
According to a statement from UO spokesperson Eric Howald, UO plans on “holding a public forum in late January on immigration issues for international students and other concerned members of [the] community.”
Professor Joel Sati, a DACA recipient himself, teaches immigration law at UO’s Knight Law Center. He predicts the DACA program will end and be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
“I don’t think DACA is long for this world. I hope I’m wrong, but it just doesn’t look like that,” Sati said. “Especially with this push toward mass deportations, I think that [rescinding DACA] is going to be the kind of thing [the Trump administration] will push to do by any means necessary.”
Sati also discussed new everyday challenges that could impact international students. For example, if students were unable to receive a social security number, they could not legally hold a driver’s license.
Driving without a license could result in arrest and a subsequent deportation would be more likely if Project 2025’s guidelines for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to “stop ignoring” smaller local crimes is followed.
Sati stressed the importance of financial assistance for international students and proposed UO provide an undocumented student center to “educate students on [their] options.”
While UO does not have a dedicated center for undocumented students, it does have an International Student and Scholar Services program that helps students navigate immigration and studying in the U.S.
According to Howald, the “university office is strongly committed to providing ongoing support for all [of UO’s] international students, from visa issuance before arrival, to graduation and through all the moments in between in their journey at UO.”
