The Department of Justice wants to know what happened. It has asked Thomas College of Waterville, Maine, about a whistleblower’s report that Chinese nationals with student visas admitted for the next school year have gone missing (Maine Wire, April 25, 2025).
According to U.S. Attorney Edward Martin’s letter to the president of Thomas College, the whistleblower attested that the school had “experienced a dramatic decrease in attendance on your campus by Chinese nationals who are/were enrolled in your college this academic year,” and the question is whether these missing students, perhaps linked to the Chinese Communist Party, are violating the terms of their visas and breaking the law.
A wider probe
The case is not isolated. “A federal law enforcement source told the Maine Wire that the letter to Thomas College was part of a much bigger probe into the disappearance of Chinese nationals who entered the country legally on student visas but subsequently disappeared into the interior of the U.S.”
The Trump administration has revoked the student visas of hundreds of international students because of destructive pro-Palestinian activism and for other reasons.
“If you say you’re coming not just to study but to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings and cause chaos, we’re not giving you that visa,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said.
Critics contend that many of the cancellations are unjustified.
The Chinese government, which harasses the family members of overseas students who voice any objection to Chinese Communist Party rule, has issued advisories to warn Chinese about the risk of traveling or studying the United States.
Meanwhile, the United States is warning persons thinking of traveling to mainland China to “exercise increased caution…due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans.”
