When borders close, so do futures. The Trump administration’s latest round of travel and visa restrictions extend to 39 countries, many in Africa and the Middle East — a move that confuses national security with collective punishment, blocking thousands of qualified African students from life-changing educational opportunities. The government justified these restrictions with concerns about visa overstays, screening deficiencies and information-sharing gaps in foreign immigration systems. Yet, this fails to recognize the merit and circumstances of international scholarship students, including those from my home country of Zimbabwe. It misidentifies them as security threats rather than young people in pursuit of educational and career opportunities.
My appeal, which I will raise on behalf of every banned student, is simple: immigration policies should distinguish between individual students and broader security risks, and student visa applicants should not be penalized for issues unrelated to them.
Trump’s recent measure impacts my academic trajectory as a Zimbabwean United World College Shelby Davis Scholar and Yale Young African Scholars Alumnus. The Davis UWC Scholars Program is the world’s largest privately funded undergraduate scholarship program. It aims to transform U.S colleges into globally engaged spaces by providing need-based aid to UWC students from over 160 countries to study at 106 partner universities. Due to the restriction, I can no longer benefit from the scholarship, even though I dedicated years of my life to earning it.
My friend Rufaro, another Shelby Davis UWC Scholar, experienced this reality even more painfully. He had received an acceptance to Dartmouth the day before the proclamation was issued. He was in tears because attending an Ivy League university has been his dream for years. Now, as a Zimbabwean high school senior at UWC Dilijan, the policy impedes him from attending Dartmouth in the fall.
How does his work to secure a future for his rural family in Zimbabwe pose a threat to anyone’s security?
Rufaro’s story is not dissimilar to the stories of many Zimbabwean students. Of the seven scholarship students that immediately come to mind, like Rufaro, all of us come from modest backgrounds. All of us, like Rafuro, are enrolled in U.S pipeline programs such as the United States Achievers Program and Makomborero Trust in Zimbabwe, both of which have enabled over 500 Zimbabwean students to study in America since 1999. All of us have dedicated ourselves to academic excellence and have worked incredibly hard to meet high academic and cocurricular achievement standards, all in hopes of getting an American education.
According to the Overstay Report, Zimbabwe had a B-1/B-2 visa overstay rate of 7.89% and an F, M and J visa overstay rate of 15.15%. I find it hard to believe that the most effective way to reduce overstays was not to address and reprimand overstayers, but to stop new visa applicants from entering the U.S. Even if some individuals overstay, collective punishment does not target offenders, which would directly address the problem; rather, it penalizes compliant applicants, making this move ethically and morally questionable and restricting educational opportunities for thousands of people.
The U.S. is the tertiary education hub of the world, boasting unparalleled facilities and curricula. A degree from an American university opens doors to professional networks, graduate pipelines and employer recognition that equivalents from different parts of the world do not — according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, foreign-born individuals accounted for 19.2% of the U.S civilian labor force in 2024. Many of these individuals initially entered the U.S. on student visas or similar pathways. Foreign talent is structurally important to both the U.S. labor market and African economies, as the World Bank reported that around $90.2 billion was remitted into African countries in 2023, with the U.S. being identified as the largest single source country for global remittance flows.
In recent years, the number of Zimbabwean students studying in the United States has steadily increased. According to the 2024 Open Doors Report, 1,907 Zimbabwean students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities during the 2023–2024 academic year. A considerable number of U.S.-educated Zimbabweans participate in the global workforce, and Zimbabweans working abroad remitted over $2.45 billion to their families in 2025. ZipAtlas estimates that there are 26,959 Zimbabwean immigrants living in the U.S, with a labor force participation rate of around 66.8% among those of working age.
For Zimbabweans, these opportunities can be life-changing. Tari, my cousin and a Dartmouth graduate, renovated his family home, supported his siblings’ education and now contributes to his village through local projects: books for local children, tuition, food and critical aid. This was only possible through an employment opportunity in the U.S. that his Dartmouth degree afforded him.
Tari’s story is very similar to the stories of U.S.-based African students that I have interacted with in university guidance and mentorship circles. Brenda, who supports her family in Kenya while studying at Yale; Tatenda, who took all three of her siblings through the college admissions process so that they could jointly support their extended family in Zimbabwe; and Nicole, who hopes that her education at Macalester will allow her to open a neurosurgery center in Zimbabwe.
Talented, hardworking and law-abiding international students should continue accessing educational opportunities and should not be the ones punished. Now is the time for leaders to ensure that immigration and education policy is targeted at real threats rather than indiscriminate restrictions. Protecting access to education is an investment in economic growth, innovation and global cooperation.
Guest articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
