Colleges and universities in the United States are writing to their international students and staff advising them to travel to the US before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month amid concerns over his immigration policies and ‘ those who come out.

International students in the United States are also very concerned about being expelled from their home countries. “All international students are now scared,” said Chloe East, a professor at the University of Colorado in Denver.

Trump said he would begin repatriating the largest number of people in the country’s history and that he would use the military to do the job. More than 400,000 undocumented students attend American universities, according to the Higher Education Immigration Portal.

Republican leaders expected in the Trump administration have said they will build a large facility to house undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation.

Tom Homan, who will be in charge of the border of the United States of America, said that people who have committed brutal crimes and others who pose a threat to the security of the United States will be the focus of deportation from the United States.

But that doesn’t eliminate the concerns that higher education has. Professor East said: “Students are under a lot of pressure and fear because of these expectations of immigration policy. “Many students are worried about whether their visas will be extended and they will be able to continue their studies”.

This month, the University of Massachusetts issued a travel warning to its international students, advising them to “consider very carefully” returning to campus after the break, before Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2025. The university wrote to them: “In light of the previous suspension of some travel during the first Trump administration in 2016, our Office of Foreign Affairs is issuing this message out of serious concern.”

In his first week as head of state in his first term, Trump signed an executive order banning travel to the United States by citizens of several Muslim-majority countries, including North Korea and Venezuela.

During his first term, he also reduced student visas The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wesleyan University also issued travel advisories, asking students and staff to return to the US before Trump’s inauguration.

At Yale University, the Office of International Students this month held a discussion on the concerns of students who may be affected by changes in immigration policy, according to the student newspaper.

These include students who were born in other countries and come to the United States as children who were otherwise subject to a provision known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca).

During his time in office, Trump tried to end the Barack Obama-era provision, which allowed more than 500,000 immigrants to come to the United States as children without being returned to their countries of birth. Prof Chloe East says students from Asia, particularly China, are worried about the potential for US-China relations to take hold in the Trump era.

Aoi Maeda, a Japanese student at Earlham College in Indiana, is one of those worried about her future in America. He said: “I plan to graduate in May 2026, but now that the regime is going to be terrible, I have little hope that things will go well.

“Trump says he’s only interested in getting undocumented immigrants out of the country, but he’s repeatedly tried to expand those limits.” Maeda added: “I feel that we as foreign students with visas can reach us, and it will be easier for them to send us home.”