Global Learning, Local Exclusion: Contradictions in International Education

By: Carmen Hernandez, IEI Advocacy Rep
Three years ago, I wrote a piece here on the IEI website about the lack of Latinx professional support networks in international education. After it was published, I received a flood of messages on LinkedIn. The camaraderie and shared experiences that followed reminded me I wasn’t alone—and helped me feel more connected in a field where we’re often underrepresented.

Now, three years later, I wish I were writing again about something as “minor” as representation. But we’re living in a much more urgent moment. One marked not by celebration of cultural exchange, but by fear, exclusion, and deep contradictions.

We are in a political climate where skin color can determine whether you're welcomed or criminalized. Racial profiling is normalized. Immigration is framed as a threat. And international education exists—awkwardly—in the middle of it all.

International education has long marketed itself as a gateway to global understanding, cross-cultural empathy, and personal transformation. Yet at the same time that we encourage U.S. students—particularly white, U.S.-born students—to “broaden their horizons” abroad, we criminalize migration at home:

• Mass ICE raids, family separations, and the expansion of detention centers
• The deportation of undocumented students, workers, and even visa holders on technicalities
• State-level attacks on immigrant rights, bilingual education, and DEI frameworks
• Increasing visa denials, especially for students from the Global South, Muslim-majority countries, and Africa
• The erasure of conversations about colonization, race, and gender in educational spaces—all while claiming to lead globally on education

How can the U.S. continue to promote study abroad as a symbol of openness while building walls—literal and figurative—against the same ideals at home?

What troubles me most is that global education is still framed as a mutual exchange—a shared opportunity. But with federal funding disappearing and international scholarship programs like the Benjamin A. Gilman in jeopardy, we’re once again reminded that mobility is a racialized and classed privilege.

So we must ask:
Who gets to go?
Who is welcomed?
And who is left behind?

For those of us committed to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice (DEIJ), it’s time to move beyond representation alone. The struggles we face globally and domestically are deeply interconnected.
Immigration rights, international student justice, and access to study abroad are not separate issues. They are one fight, across borders.

As a Latinx study abroad advisor, I’ve seen firsthand how transformative global experiences can be—especially for students of color seeking to reclaim identity, deepen cultural roots, and imagine new futures. We know the value of this work—so what will we do next?
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Action Steps for Our Field

• Reach out. If you know a colleague who may be struggling right now—especially Black, Brown, or immigrant professionals—check in. Solidarity begins with conversation.
• Name it. Don’t avoid hard conversations. Talk openly about the policies affecting our students and our colleagues.
• Push for alignment. Urge your institution to align its global strategies with its DEIJ commitments.
• Invest in justice. Support grassroots and community-led spaces that prioritize equity in global learning.