The United States has long attracted top researchers and scientists from across the globe. But there's growing concern in the field that the Trump administration's aggressive immigration policies and deep funding cuts could close off the pipeline of international talent, and dull the country's competitive edge.
One international grad student studying data science in Maine said she was first drawn to the U.S. by its higher education system. She said she had planned to work in the U.S. after graduating, at least for a while.
But now she's not so sure.
"Because it seems like the climate is a lot more hostile to international students," she said. "[And toward] people who are politically inclined in a different direction from what the administration has in mind at the moment."
She requested anonymity, citing the climate facing many international students.
She said federal funding cuts to science and education are also giving her pause, because they could undermine the opportunities that lured her here in the first place.
"Seeing that decline makes me worry about what the future looks like here," she said.
According to the most recent data from the National Science Foundation, 43% of the country's doctorate-level scientists and engineers were born outside the U.S. The proportion is even higher in computational and mathematical science, where foreign-born individuals make up a majority of doctoral degree holders.
"Science is really the foundation of our economy, of our military superiority, of our quality of life," said Deborah Bronk, president and CEO of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay. "Suddenly becoming mediocre at science should terrify all of us."
Bronk said 5-10% of Bigelow's staff are green-card holders or postdoctoral researchers on temporary visas, a cohort that she said is crucial to advancing the lab's oceanography research.
And Bronk fears that the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement — and its refusal to follow court orders to return a wrongly deported man from El Salvador — may well scare away foreign scientists.
"What if you're detained? Our government made a mistake and deported somebody and is now saying, 'Well, we can't do anything about it,'" she said. "It's really put a damper of fear on everything."
One of Bigelow's foreign researchers, she noted, recently had his phone searched at the airport while returning to the U.S.
"My immediate concern is for the safety of our foreign scientists," Bronk said. "Our recommendation is, don't leave the country, if you can help it."
Bronk said that poses a particular challenge to oceanographers, who often need to travel to different parts of the world to conduct research.
But the threats are rising for foreign scientists in all fields of research, and for the U.S. companies and institutions that rely on them.
"So I think the concern here is that this will be a brain drain," said Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, a group that pulls together some of the top scientists in the country to advise the federal government.
Historically, McNutt said the U.S. has been the one to offer refuge, such as when Albert Einstein and other Jewish scientists came to the U.S. fleeing Hitler's Germany.
But now, she said, the equation is reversed, as Australia, France, and other countries are actively recruiting U.S. scientists to work in STEM research.
"It's probably going to be China that will benefit from our misfortune," McNutt said.
McNutt said she was relieved last week when the Trump administration announced it would restore hundreds of student visas it had suddenly cancelled. And she believes there is still bipartisan support for legislation to attract and retain international students in high-demand fields.
But McNutt said the turmoil around student visas and immigration policy in general has already damaged the country's reputation.
"That's going to create even more distrust of the U.S. being long term able to encourage a strong and consistently excellent science environment," she said.
Meanwhile, the grad student in Maine who's weighing whether or not to stay in the U.S. said she has deleted information online that could be used to identify her, and now carries her immigration credentials with her whenever she leaves the house.
"In many ways it's surreal, but like, in the worst sense possible," she said.
And as graduation approaches, she said she's expanding her job search to companies that have offices abroad.
