For months, 19-year-old Noah (not his real name) from Malaysia had been researching how to study marine biology in the United States: Looking into visa rules, work opportunities and internships. But in April, he gave up on his dream.

“I had my heart set on Hawaii – some people call it the Disneyland for marine scientists,” he told The Straits Times.

Countries such as Australia, Britain and the US have long been popular overseas destinations for many South-east Asians. But there appears to be a growing sense of wariness among potential students and other travellers from the region about heading to the US.

Policy shifts under the Trump administration, including sharper scrutiny of international students and visa cancellations, amid an immigration crackdown have led to reassessments by would-be arrivals from South-east Asia.

For Noah, the worries have meant pivoting to local options or considering Singapore and Australia. He declined to use his real name as a precaution in the event of future travel to the US.

“I have turned my eyes closer to home. South-east Asia has incredible marine ecosystems too, and maybe this is a sign to root my work right here, where it matters most,” he said.

Others have seen their opportunities abruptly paused. A 28-year-old Malaysian participant in the US State Department’s Young South-east Asian Leaders Initiative, who requested anonymity, said his five-week fellowship in the US was postponed without explanation in March.

Since January, more than 4,700 international student records have been removed from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a database managed by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Reuters and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

The US Embassy in Jakarta reported 8,348 Indonesian students in the US for 2023-2024, the second-highest figure from South-east Asia, after Vietnam. But cases like that of Aditya Wahyu Harsono – a 33-year-old arrested by ICE agents at his workplace in Minnesota after his student visa was suddenly revoked – have caused ripples of concern.

The Indonesian Embassy in Washington on April 12 urged students to closely monitor their visa status and digital footprint, and to stay compliant with all US regulations. Several Indonesian students have been detained or deported recently, including one in San Francisco, and others in Atlanta and New York.

As at April 24, around 20 Indonesian students across the US have been detained by ICE, with five of them deported.

Some Indonesian students in the US say they have stopped travelling outside of the country, even for academic events, to avoid re-entry risks.

“During spring break, I noticed that people who returned to the US after internships or other activities were being questioned a lot by immigration officers, mostly friends from Arab or Palestinian backgrounds. They might be the main targets now,” Mr Edo (not his real name), a post-graduate student in New York, told ST. He also declined to be named in case of possible repercussions.

“There’s now a lot of guidance circulating. Before going through immigration, students (from overseas) are advised to delete all social media, deactivate accounts and clean up (their) photo gallery,” he said, pointing to groups like American Civil Liberties Union that are helping students avoid potential detention by ICE.

These developments come as the Trump administration is poised to use the federal purse to force top universities like Columbia and Harvard to make sweeping policy changes, or lose grants and contracts, even as international student exchange programmes including Fulbright face funding issues.

A 21-year-old Malaysian student is still mulling over an offer from a US university.

“As a brown Asian girl, I worry about my general safety and well-being if I were to reside in the US,” she said, pointing to issues such as racism and the immigration crackdown, not to mention the political leanings of Arkansas in the deep south, where the university is located. Arkansas is a red (Republican) state, whose voters helped President Donald Trump win a second term in the 2024 polls.

The president of Sunway University in Malaysia, Professor Sibrandes Poppema, has seen concerns raised by his students and their parents about the situation in the US over the last few months. He has advised them about alternative plans, such as the possibility of obtaining an American degree while completing their studies in Malaysia. The local private university offers joint programmes with Arizona State University and other universities outside Malaysia.

“Having a backup plan is always good,” he said, adding that he has received more inquiries of late about higher studies in Australia and New Zealand.

There are about 4,816 Malaysians studying in the US for the 2023-2024 academic year, according to the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, published by the US State Department.

Government-funded agency Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), which sends Malaysian students overseas, told ST that it continues to send students to the US, and has reminded them to abide by local laws. Nearly 300 Mara-sponsored students are currently in the US.

Along with students from the region, other travellers have expressed concerns about visiting the US and being refused entry or, worse, detained by the US immigration authorities for perceived infractions.

A Singaporean woman posted on TikTok on April 24 about being detained and questioned by ICE upon arrival in Los Angeles, despite having visited the US many times with no issues.

“They didn’t say anything. They didn’t tell me I was going to be put into a room for two hours,” she said in her post, recounting how she was not allowed to use her mobile phone or contact anyone. When contacted by ST, the woman, who wanted to be known only as Gladys, confirmed the incident but declined to comment further.

Another Singaporean, who wanted to be known only as Matthew, said he often travelled to Philadelphia for work in 2022 and had a pleasant experience then.

But the current situation is worrying, he said. “I feel like the country has seen many changes in the past three years… Looking at the news and seeing how several minority groups or those from South-east Asia have been specific targets, it is a huge concern.”

ST spoke to seven travel agencies in Singapore, which collectively say they have not seen a difference in the level of air travel to the US, and that upcoming travel plans have not been cancelled.

CTC Travel, a Singapore travel agency, noted a steady interest in travel to the US from South-east Asia over the past few months. Its public relations head Diana Tan told ST: “While there have been minor fluctuations due to seasonal trends and market conditions, we have not seen any significant decline in bookings. There has been no sharp decline in air ticket sales to the US since the beginning of the year.”

However, Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents president Nigel Wong observed “a number of cancellations and a general slowdown in bookings for travel to the US”, though he did not provide any figures.

In December 2024, around 2.55 million Malaysians and 1.24 million Indonesians visited the US – compared with 1.86 million and 1.09 million, respectively, in the previous month – according to London-based global data firm CEIC.

While data from the International Air Transport Association for the month of February showed no decrease in South-east Asian arrivals in the US, this was before the spate of ICE detentions involving Indonesians in recent months.

Just three months into the year, international arrivals in the US are down sharply, driven by the President Trump’s tariff moves and bold rhetoric. The US’ National Travel and Tourism Office’s preliminary figures indicated overseas visitor arrivals in the country fell 11.6 per cent year-on-year in March; for the first quarter of 2025, the number of visitors entering the US from overseas was 3.3 per cent lower than that of the same period a year ago.

According to travel forecasting firm Tourism Economics, the impact of a less favourable view of the US from abroad could be severe enough that international visits would not surpass pre-pandemic levels until 2029.

Put off by reports of bona fide students and tourists being detained or turned away at the border, some are choosing to stay away from the US or travel elsewhere in the meantime.

Jakarta-based business executive Adrian Suharto, 48, who travels frequently for work and holidays, said he will be avoiding the US this year.

“I saw from the news that a lot of student visa holders, permanent visa holders, are being held in US detention centres, and some are deported. It would be a high risk for us regular tourist visa holders,” he told ST.

— In association with Asia News Network