The Nov. 8 election of Donald Trump gave international students at OU a mixture of opinions on the future of America and their opportunities here.
Students studying abroad at OU while following the election expressed differing visions of foreign policy and life as an international student under a Trump administration. Laura Flores, a geology graduate student, said she is worried for the future as an international student from Mexico.
“I feel a little bit worried because of (Trump’s) comments about Latin American people,” Flores said. “I think his comments are not good for people who are from another country.
“During the interviews that he had, he was saying not good things about (Latinx) people, about the border between Mexico and the USA,” Flores said. “That’s one of the things that I have been worried about. I hope he doesn’t do what he’s saying, but I’m not sure.”
Flores said while she is uncertain what the alternative administration under Hillary Clinton would have looked like, she never heard Clinton speak about building a wall or make harmful remarks about women. She said she is uncertain about opportunities for Latinx students to study and work in the U.S. in the coming years.
“Maybe (Latinx students) will need more documents to come here to study or to work — well, to work I’m sure,” Flores said. “But I don’t know if to study is going to be more complicated being a Latin American student."
But Ricardo Fraga, an industrial and systems engineering junior, said he believes nothing will truly change in the U.S. or in the attitudes in his home country of Venezuela toward the U.S.
“The U.S. still has its system of checks and balances, so it’s not like America is going to go crazy over this, and I don’t think many things are going to change,” Fraga said. “There’s going to be a little bit of difference, definitely, but it’s not going to be anything crazy.”
Fraga said Venezuelans and the Venezuelan government are already on poor terms with the U.S., so their view of the country will not necessarily change with these results.
“I guess most Venezuelans would be against (Trump). I don’t know,” Fraga said. “Our government is very socialist ... so I guess they won’t be happy about it, but I don’t think they were going to be happy regardless of who won.”
Another international student, electrical and computer engineering graduate student Mohamed Alamiri, said he sees a potential upside to Trump’s presidency for his home country. Alamiri is from Syria, and said he believes Trump’s relationship with Russia will make a positive impact on the Syrian civil war.
“The United States and Russia were on different sides, so maybe now they’ll reach a deal and that will stop the war,” Alamiri said. "Even though I don’t think the people there will be satisfied with the results, at least after five years of war, you just want to end it. I think that maybe Putin and Trump, they have some kind of relationship, so that will help stop the war."
Alamiri said he is more hopeful for change in Syria under Trump than under Clinton.
“Hillary would follow Obama’s policies, his foreign policies,” Alamiri said. “Obama promised to stop the war and to make Assad leave the country, but it’s been like three or four years, and nothing (has) changed.”
“I don’t think Hillary, with her, anything’s going to change,” Alamiri said. “And now, something’s going to happen because the policy will be completely different from before.”
As far as finding a post-graduation job in America as an international student, Alamiri said he is not worried about the job market under Trump.
“I know that the companies will be worried because you can’t predict what Trump will do, his reactions,” Alamiri said. “After all, I don’t think it will affect some international students, especially in engineering, if they are looking for job opportunities because companies look for the experience and who can do the job.
“It’s still maybe a little bit more challenging, but (international students) will still have the market open if they want to stay here and pursue a job,” Alamiri said.
