February 5, 2026: This Week in International Student News
- Carrie Circosta
- Feb 4
- 6 min read
We made it to February!
And yes, we look to a groundhog to let us know how much more winter we'll have this year.
Seems like we have plenty of winter weeks ahead...as well as plenty of news for international students.
Check out what I'm covering this week:
📰 Top Headlines: Trump’s unfulfilled green card promise for graduates, Florida universities partnering with ICE and sparking student protests, and the administration escalating its standoff with Harvard.
💰 Featured Scholarship Resource: A comprehensive guide to scholarships for international students — including students with disabilities — from Mobility International USA.
🔍 Interesting Find: AI models outperforming average students on Japan’s university entrance exams, raising new questions about the future of testing worldwide.
⚡ Immigration Corner: A clear-eyed look at deportation numbers — what’s rising, what’s falling, and what the data actually shows beyond the headlines.
Let's dive in!
Carrie at International Student Voice ⭐
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📰 TOP 3 HEADLINES FROM THE WEEK
🎓 Trump's Campaign Promise of Green Cards for College Graduates Remains Unfulfilled
During a June 2024 podcast interview, then-candidate Trump promised that foreign students graduating from U.S. colleges—including junior colleges—would automatically receive green cards with their diplomas, saying "that is going to end on Day One." However, one year into his second term, that promise remains unfulfilled as his administration has instead pursued an aggressive campaign targeting international students through visa revocations, halted student visa interviews, and attempts to block foreign enrollment at universities like Harvard. Trump's shift from promising automatic green cards to implementing restrictive policies has left international students feeling betrayed and uncertain about their futures, with many now facing the prospect of being forced to leave the country despite years of study in the United States. Immigration advocates note the stark contradiction between Trump's campaign pledge and his administration's actual policies, which have made it harder—not easier—for international graduates to remain in America. (PolitiFact)
🚨 Florida Universities Partner with ICE, Sparking Student Protests
At least 16 Florida public universities and colleges have entered into what is known as "287(g) agreements" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the past year, giving university police departments authority to conduct immigration enforcement and access to databases to check immigration status after training from ICE. Florida International University, a Miami campus that is majority Hispanic with 4,500 international students from more than 140 countries, faced student protests Friday after its police chief stated the university would assist ICE if requested for an immigration sweep on campus, though he noted "that hasn't happened" yet. The partnerships—which expanded nationwide from about 160 to over 1,000 agreements under the second Trump administration—appear to mark the first time colleges and universities have been included in the 287(g) program, with almost all participating schools located in Florida following Governor Ron DeSantis's February 2025 directive for law enforcement to cooperate with ICE. While some universities like the University of North Florida say there has been no ICE enforcement activity on campus since entering agreements, immigration scholars warn the partnerships will intimidate students regardless of whether they're actively used, creating a "chilling effect" even without actual enforcement. (The New York Times)
💰 Trump Demands $1 Billion From Harvard, Escalating Year-Long Feud
President Trump demanded that Harvard University pay the federal government $1 billion in "damages," doubling his previous $500 million settlement demand and dramatically escalating a prolonged standoff over alleged campus antisemitism. The demand came just hours after The New York Times reported the administration had backed off calls for a cash settlement, with Trump posting on Truth Social that Harvard has been "behaving very badly" and that his administration wants "nothing further to do" with the university. Harvard has steadfastly refused to reach a deal with the president, rejecting demands to reform hiring and admissions practices, restructure governance, and end DEI programs, while six other Ivy League schools—including Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Virginia, and Northwestern—have reached settlements. The administration has frozen more than $2 billion in Harvard's federal research funding and attempted to block it from enrolling international students, though a federal judge ruled in September that the funding freeze was illegal and part of a "targeted, ideologically-motivated assault." Trump's focus on restricting Harvard's foreign students—who comprise 27% of enrollment—has broader implications for other universities, as the administration uses accusations of antisemitism and concerns about "foreign influence" to justify sweeping changes to higher education policy. (Politico) (Politico Weekly Education)
🎓 FEATURED SCHOLARSHIP Resource
Mobility International USA (MIUSA) has compiled a comprehensive resource guide featuring popular scholarship opportunities that international students—including those with disabilities—can use at accredited U.S. schools. The guide also includes search tools and related links to help narrow your search based on location, academic subject, and even disability-specific opportunities to maximize your funding options. An important reminder: although some scholarships are specifically designed for people with disabilities, students with disabilities can apply for ANY scholarship as long as they meet the other requirements—disability-focused awards are not your only option. (Mobility International USA)
🔍 INTERESTING FIND
AI Scores Higher Than Average Students on Japan's University Entrance Exams
Artificial intelligence models achieved remarkable results on Japan's 2026 Common Test for University Admissions, with OpenAI's GPT-5.2 Thinking model scoring 96.9 out of 100 across 15 subjects—including perfect scores in nine subjects—far exceeding the average human test-taker score of 58.1. The experiment, conducted jointly by the Nikkei newspaper and Japanese AI startup LifePrompt, tested models from OpenAI and Google (which scored 91.4) on entrance exams held January 17-18, with results showing rapid AI advancement as OpenAI's average score rose from 66 in 2024 to 91 in 2025. While AI models performed exceptionally well in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology, they struggled more with Japanese language and geography questions—correctly interpreting geometric figures but making mistakes on world maps, revealing AI still has limitations in recognizing irregular and complex graphical information. The results raise fascinating questions about the future of standardized testing and what it means for international students preparing for university entrance exams worldwide. (Xinhua)
News in 1 Sentence
Florida is now accepting public comment on a proposed one-year pause that would bar Florida’s public universities from hiring new faculty or staff through the H-1B visa program while the state gathers data on how campuses use the visas.
Yale departments face a new hurdle as a Trump administration policy imposing a steep fee on H-1B sponsorship threatens to make hiring international scholars significantly more expensive and difficult for academic units with limited budgets.
International branch campuses are booming again, and the authors lay out six key lessons from the rise, decline, and reinvention of overseas campuses—including why universities pursue them, what risks they underestimate, and what’s different in today’s geopolitical climate.
Texas’ H-1B halt could disrupt research and teaching by freezing new H-1B processing at public universities, leaving departments uncertain about recruiting and retaining international faculty, researchers, and specialized staff.
DEEP DIVE: IMMIGRATION CORNER 🛂
Beyond the Headlines: Deportation Numbers Explained
Immigration has been all over the news for a while, so I wanted to look at the simplest question: What do the numbers actually show?
According to a New York Times analysis of federal data, over the past year, the Trump administration deported about 230,000 people who were arrested inside the U.S. and another 270,000 people connected to arrests at the border.
The Times notes that the 230,000 interior deportations since Trump took office are already higher than the total across the entire four years of the Biden administration, making interior enforcement one of the clearest signs of how the crackdown has changed day-to-day life in communities.
At the same time, the overall total is complicated by what’s happening at the Southwest border. With border crossings falling to record lows, there were fewer border arrests and removals than in the previous couple of years. That helps explain why the Times estimates about 540,000 total deportations/repatriations since Trump took office — lower than 2023 (590,000) and 2024 (650,000), when crossings were much higher.
The Times also reports that roughly 40,000 people “self-deported” through a new program/app that offered a stipend.
Bottom line: even if totals rise and fall with border conditions, the biggest shift in this first year is the scale and visibility of interior arrests and deportations.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story — but they do tell us this: enforcement has moved inward, and it’s being felt more visibly in communities across the country.
Source: Analysis based on data reported by The New York Times.
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Disclaimer: International Student Voice is not an immigration attorney or immigration advisor. The purpose of this newsletter is strictly educational. Always consult with qualified legal counsel for advice specific to your situation.