Professor Johnson Talks to Capital & Main About Effects of Trump Targeting International Students

Professor Kevin R. Johnson talked to Capital & Main on May 1 about the long-term impact of recent Trump administration actions that have included detaining international students on dubious legal grounds and threatening to suspend the visas of others.

“We’re going to see a reduction in the number of international students and scholars coming to the U.S.,” Johnson told Capital & Main writer Mark Kreidler. “These students have options all over the world. They’ll choose places where they don’t face the kinds of risks that this administration has made clear will be posed to them if they come here.”

The impact will last for “generations,” Johnson said. “But the short-term impact is declining numbers of international students, declining international tuition and more tightening of budgets at universities.”

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.