Several Chinese students criticized the legislation that was presented last week by Republican legislators who seek to keep them out of US schools.
The bill, the CCP Visas Law would stop the issuance of students from students to Chinese citizens seeking to study in American universities or participate in change programs.
The bill quotes national security concerns, saying that those in students have tried to spy on the Chinese Communist Party. But Chinese citizens who spoke with NBC News said they arrived in the United States seeking more academic freedom, qualifying the legislation “the new Chinese exclusion law.”
“I think it’s just shameless racism and xenophobia,” said a Chinese student who recently graduated from a University of the DC area and requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. “We are not spies. We are students who want to get a better education.”
The representative Riley Moore, RWVA., Who introduced the bill, doubled the legislation in the midst of the criticisms of the students and the defense groups.
“I will never apologize for defending the vital interests of the United States against our greatest geopolitical enemy,” he told NBC News in an email.
With the generalized reaction, the bill is unlikely. However, students say they add to their concerns about security in the US.
The spokesman of the China Embassy, Liu Pengyu, said that the United States has “suppressed and persecuted” Chinese students in the United States who have legal and valid documents and visas and that China “firmly opposes such practices.
“The hope of Chinese-United States relations lies in the people, its foundation is in exchanges of people to people and their future in youth.”
Five Republicans of the House of Representatives Copatrocine the bill, and Senator Ashley Moody, Republican of F-Fla., Will introduce complementary legislation into the Senate. In a case cited by Moore, five Chinese students at the University of Michigan faced each other near a military site during a visit to the night in 2023. It was not revealed that it was a national security problem, and they were accused of lying to the researchers about the trip and conspiring to eliminate the photos of their cell phones.
A Ph.D. of Princeton University. The student, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, said he was surprised by the “extreme” nature of the bill, saying that he painted Chinese students with a broad brush.
“I graduated from a superior university in China, so I had access to many excellent resources in research, but due to censorship, there were so many issues that I could not study,” he said.
He said that while the university environment has been inclusive and cozy, he has felt a slight change under the new Trump administration, with a little more reluctant schools to speak for his international students. And this new bill is certainly not helping, he said, adding that if he begins to feel insecure, he would consider moving.
“I have met many talented Chinese students and are contributing to the United States through the economy, their technology, much more than I think they realize,” he said. “It will be a shame away.”
Michael Hotchkiss, Vice President of Princeton Communications, said that the Davis International Center of the School helps provide guidance and information for its international students, each who works with an advisor.
“Princeton supports and defends his international students,” Hotchkiss said in a statement.
A student of the Law Faculty of Yale, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the bill itself perpetuates a harmful and unfair image of Chinese students as spies. For him, it was the legal environment in the United States that attracted him to the schools of the country in the first place.
“I studied law in China before, and felt that the Chinese legal system and the rule of law, in many ways, is still very committed,” he said.
Until now, the bill has received a violent reaction from Asian -American organizations, including the Asian American Academic Forum, who said that many international academics come from countries with political agitation, limited rights or limited opportunities. The legislation would damage the academic portfolio of the academics, the organization said, and in turn would damage the leadership of the United States in science and innovation.
“We cannot afford to cut this talent portfolio and exclude such an integral part of our American community,” said Gisela Kusakawa, executive director of the group. “To do it would be to turn the ideals that have turned the United States into a world leader in innovation and discovery.”
