The Office of International Students Affairs (OISA) is urging international Emerson students to “seriously consider” returning to the United States ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. 

In an email sent in early December, OISA said it made the recommendation out of an “abundance of caution and based on historical precedent,” in reference to a 2017 executive order Trump issued in his first week in office banning nationals from seven countries from entering the U.S. for a minimum of 90 days. The order also included the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days. At the time, Trump’s team claimed the order was “protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.” 

To some students, the recommendation confirmed a previous worry about the impact Trump’s presidency would have on their ability to study comfortably in the U.S.

“I was expecting it sooner or later, but it’s also worrisome when you receive such an email because you need to start thinking and planning ahead,” said first-year journalism major Andriani Lamprinou, who spoke by phone from her home in Greece. 

Emerson is one of many schools around the country recommending students come back early. In Massachusetts, UMass Amherst, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University sent similar emails to their international student body. Classes at Emerson’s Boston campus start on Jan. 13, exactly one week before the inauguration, while classes at Emerson’s Los Angeles campus don’t start until Jan. 23. 

“It’s one thing to know Trump is back, it’s something else when you start seeing things that confirm that things are going to change,” said Lou Magliano, a junior visual media arts major from France.

Over the course of his presidency, which ended in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump’s administration issued 472 executive actions that reshaped the U.S. immigration system. New international student enrollment dropped by 12 percentage points during his first term.

Trump mentioned international students multiple times on his campaign trail this year. After pro-Palestinian student protests and encampants took over college campuses across the country in the spring, he addressed international students at a rally in New Jersey, expressing his dissatisfaction with colleges being taken over by “violent radicals.”

“If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you,” he said. “You’ll be out of that school.”

Then in June, when asked about his ability to “import the the best and brightest around the world to America” on the “All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg” podcast, Trump said that if international students graduate from an American college they “should get automatically [sic] as part of [their] diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country.”

Trump and his team have not yet made any concrete proposals in either direction. Lamprinou said that whether or not new policies will be implemented has been a big topic of conversation amongst international students. 

“It wouldn’t be beneficial for the U.S. to deny entrance to international students in the future when we actually help the economy grow,” Lamprinou said.

According to NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, international students brought $43.8 billion into the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 academic year, while also supporting about 378,000 jobs in the country.

OISA’s email committed to providing proactive support to the international student community over the course of the next four years. Its spring semester support and communication plan will include posting major immigration updates to their website, having daily walk-in hours and scheduled appointments for individual questions available, and offering workshops on relevant topics. 

“Being from France, l’m not so much concerned about my ability to continue my studies in the U.S.,” Magliano said. “But I have classmates from other countries like China. I’m not going to lie, I worry a lot about them, considering their [country’s] relation with the U.S. I hope none of us will be as affected by Trump’s presidency as we fear, but unfortunately this is not something we can control.”