Expulsions of Chinese Students Spread Confusion From Yale to UVA

The expulsions also highlight divisions within the Biden administration.

Customs agents, who work for the US Department of Homeland Security, are canceling student visas approved by the State Department. Those visas only allow people to land at US airports, but Customs agents have the power to deny entry. The State Department, which issued 105,000 Chinese student and scholar visas in the fiscal year that ended in September, declined to comment. Nicholas Burns, US ambassador to China, said in a May 8 post on X that “99.9% of Chinese students holding visas encounter no issues upon entering the United States.”

Two years ago, the Biden administration ended a controversial Trump-era policy known as the China Initiative that purported to root out spies but resulted in more ruined careers than successful prosecutions. Now that program has been succeeded by a piecemeal effort — one that’s largely hidden from public view.

Instead of targeting prominent academics, Customs agents are expelling Ph.D. and postdoctoral students, as well as company employees, by secret administrative actions with no public accountability or right to appeal.

The secrecy makes what’s going on “much more insidious now,” said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, a nonprofit organization that promotes academic freedom.