Rep. Judy Chu Condemns Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Announcement to “Aggressively” Revoke Visas for Chinese Students

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress and Chair Emerita of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), issued the following statement in response to remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the United States will "aggressively" revoke visas for Chinese students:

“One of our country's greatest assets is that we attract the most talented people from around the world to come to the U.S. to study and conduct research in groundbreaking fields. But by broadly revoking visas for Chinese students, the Trump Administration has yet again demonstrated they don't value a free, democratic, and open society. Instead, they are undermining these very principles and removing students from our country simply because of their national origin. This will not make America stronger or more secure. In fact, the biggest beneficiary of this shortsighted decision is the Chinese government, which will now benefit from their most talented individuals staying in China instead of coming here and contributing to our country. This is just another example of the Trump administration targeting Chinese people instead of the Chinese government, unjustly assuming that every Chinese person is automatically a pawn for the Chinese Communist Party. The Trump administration’s xenophobic decision is reminiscent of the Chinese Exclusion Act and will only make the U.S. weaker.”