A letter to the president: Revoking visas of international students makes America smaller, not stronger

Editor’s note: This open letter was originally posted on LinkedIn. Misho Ceko is a member of the Governing Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Dear President Trump,

My name is Misho Ceko. I’m the son of Bosnian immigrants who came to the South Side of Chicago chasing something simple and beautiful—a future for their kids. My mother spent her entire adult life cleaning rooms at the Red Roof Inn. My father worked at the LTV steel mill until a heart attack at 45 took him out of the workforce forever.

We didn’t have much, but we had hope. And when everything fell apart, it was the American safety net—Social Security and Medicaid—that kept us from losing our home. It was public schools that gave me a chance. That chance turned into an opportunity and eventually a college degree at the University of Illinois, then graduate degrees from Northwestern and Harvard University. I’m not telling you this to boast. I’m telling you because that journey—my journey—is what makes this country great.

But today, I write to you with a heavy heart.

This week, eight University of Chicago students—four current, four recent grads—had their student visas revoked. No hearings. No warning. Just a vague “unlawful activity” and a door slammed shut. They are part of over 300 international students facing the same fate. Brilliant young people, blindsided and uprooted. Young people who entrusted us with preparing them to build a better world.

Mr. President, this is not just policy—it’s personal.

There are over one million international students in this country. They contribute $44 billion to our economy. They support 400,000 American jobs. They don’t steal opportunity—they create it. They sit in our classrooms, work in our labs, start companies, cure diseases, and help build the future.

America has 38 of the top 100 universities in the world. China has 12—and they’re catching up fast. While other nations invest in talent, we are pushing it away. That doesn’t make us stronger. It makes us smaller. And I think you know—America doesn’t do “small.”

Martin Niemöller, a pastor who lived through another dark moment in history, said: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…”

His warning was clear: silence in the face of injustice becomes complicity.

And now, they’ve come for the students.

I urge you to reverse course—not just for them, but for us. Because when we chase out the minds that could discover the next cure for cancer or launch the next great innovation, we don’t just lose talent. We lose who we are.

I was that kid once. The one who didn’t quite belong, whose family spoke broken English and worked double shifts. America took a chance on us. America believed in us. And because of that, we believed in America and gave all we had to make this country stronger.

If given a chance, these students will too.

Sincerely,

Misho Ceko
Son of immigrants.
Product of American public schools.
Grateful citizen of a country that once opened its arms.
Senior Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer, Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.