Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the Trump administration will “aggressively revoke” visas for a segment of Chinese students.
Chinese foreign nationals studying “critical fields” or with ties to the Chinese Communist Party will be among the students targeted for removal, the top US diplomat said.
The US grants nearly 300,000 student visas to Chinese nationals every year, according to Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), who introduced legislation to halt the practice earlier this year.
“The CCP poses an existential threat to the US,” Moore wrote on X following Rubio’s announcement. “We should not be letting 300,000 Chinese nationals into our research institutions every year.
“This is a huge move from the Trump Admin, and now Congress must codify the president’s agenda by passing my Stop CCP Visas Act.”
The congressman noted that Beijing’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires any Chinese organization or citizen to support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work – both at home and abroad.
“We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,” Moore said when he unveiled his bill in March. “Just last year, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals here on student visas after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises.
“This cannot continue.”