Higher education institutions in the US have advised foreign students and staff to return from winter break before January 20, the day when Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

Trump has already announced

The advice from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other universities comes amid talk by the Trump administration about large-scale deportation of illegal immigrants. It is estimated that there are more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Indians suffer the most

The Open Doors report on International Educational Exchange says that there are 1.1 million international students in the US. Indians make up the largest number of these at 330,000. The Higher Ed Immigration Portal estimates that there are more than 400,000 such students currently enrolled in US higher education who are living here without proper documentation.

Those with valid F visas will not be affected

MIT said that those who have valid F visas are unlikely to be affected by any visa restrictions by the Trump administration. Also, undocumented students are unlikely to travel abroad.

This caution is advisable given the experience of the Trump administration in 2017. The Trump administration issued an executive order on January 27, 2017, barring immigrants and nonimmigrant travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US for 90 days.