The legal status of hundreds of international students enrolled at Maine colleges and universities could be at risk after the U.S. State Department temporarily halted visa interviews abroad for new student and exchange applicants.

The directive, issued Tuesday by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a cable sent out to U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, pauses new visa interview appointments as the State Department ramps up scrutiny of applicants’ social media activity.

Though officials say visa forms have asked applicants to provide information for their social media accounts since 2019, the move comes as President Donald Trump pushes to limit campus speech, particularly targeting pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel expression.

More than 2,000 international students studied in Maine in 2024, most coming from China and Canada. The state ranks 47th nationwide for international student enrollment, according to Open Doors, an information resource from by the U.S. Department of State.

International students are viewed as a critical part of universities across the country. Many rely on foreign students’ full tuition payments for a significant share of institutional revenue. In 2023 alone, international students pursued more than 1.3 million degrees across the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The new visa restrictions are also expected to affect visiting professors and scholars from abroad.

The University of Maine System is the largest host of international students in the state, enrolling 939 students across its nine campuses during the spring 2024 semester, according to system spokesperson Samantha Warren. She said the system is not yet commenting on the visa pause, pending official guidance from the State Department and a clearer understanding of how the policy might affect students and public universities.

“I can say we’re watching this closely,” she said in an email.

The system does not release official fall enrollment numbers until October in order to account for students who enroll up to or even after the start of the semester. Warren said it’s still too early in the admissions cycle to say how many international students will attend UMaine System schools this fall.

Maine’s private colleges tend to enroll fewer international students, but those students make up a much larger share of the campus population.

At Bates College in Lewiston, the most recent incoming class included 46 international students, accounting for 9.4% of the class, most from China and India. That’s in line with the college’s ratio of international students overall.

A spokesperson for Bates said the college did not have anyone available to comment because the college is still in the process of reviewing how this temporary halt to visa interviews might impact the community.

Communications directors at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and Colby College in Waterville declined to say whether any of their students had been directly affected by the visa pause. But David Gordon, a professor of history at Bowdoin, said faculty have not received any official guidance from the administration regarding changes to visa vetting policies for international students.

“From the prospective of international students, the extra vetting and delays in acquiring visas must be frustrating at the very least, and very disappointing,” Gordon said. “I am certainly concerned about the status of existing international students. I know many of them are also concerned.”

Gordon said the loss of international students in his classroom would be “immense,” as those with different backgrounds and life experiences enrich the educational experience for all of his students.

Administrators at Colby College, the state’s second-largest host of international students after the University of Maine system, said they are continuing to assess the details and implications of the Trump administration’s order. The college’s international applicants follow the same application process as domestic students, in line with an admissions review that evaluates each applicant within the context of their “unique background.”

“Colby remains committed to supporting members of our community as they navigate the visa process in compliance with all laws, rules and regulations,” the college said in a statement. “Our hope is that the pause on interviews does not jeopardize opportunities for students and exchange visitors to be a part of our Colby community.”

Last month, more than 1,800 international students from 280 colleges and universities nationwide lost their visas, according to a database tracking total student visa terminations compiled by Inside Higher Ed. Unlike previous procedures that allowed affected students to remain in the U.S. while completing their studies, many are now being ordered to leave the country immediately.

On April 18, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal class-action lawsuit seeking to reinstate the F-1 visa status of over 100 international students in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico, including a student at the Roux Institute in Portland whose status was abruptly revoked. While it’s still unclear whether any other students in Maine have been directly impacted, ACLU of Maine spokesperson Samuel Crankshaw said the organization believes such cases likely exist.

“Any students affected whom we may not yet know about or may be affected in the future would be covered by this, which is why we are part of it,” Crankshaw said in April.

The Trump administration has spent months canceling the visas and legal status of international students, sometimes citing minor infractions like traffic violations, and other times offering no explanation. In several high-profile cases, the administration has argued that noncitizens can be deported for participating in pro-Palestinian protests or campus activism.

In April, a federal judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested at his Columbia University-owned residence in March, could be deported based on his activism. Just weeks earlier, masked federal agents detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student and Fulbright scholar at Tufts University, after she co-wrote a student newspaper op-ed advocating for Palestinian rights and divestment from Israel. A judge has since ordered her release from immigration detention.

Even without a wave of high-profile immigration cases, Maine is not immune to the administration’s escalating crackdown on student visas. International students at the state’s prestigious private colleges, sprawling public universities and small liberal arts campuses now find themselves in limbo, uncertain of what lies ahead.

“With much pride and enthusiasm, along with dedication to their home countries, they came to study at Bowdoin,” said Gordon. “It is tragic and disheartening to see their status threatened and thrown into question without reason.”