Leaf blowers are obnoxious and polluting, yes. But they also create hearing and health hazards for their users.
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Mario Tama
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
More than 200 local governments in the U.S., including the city of Los Angeles, have restricted gas-powered lawn equipment or provided incentives to switch to quieter, less-polluting electric tools. The first bans date back to the 1970s, but the trend picked up after the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, when newly homebound workers discovered just how inescapable the whine of their neighbor’s leaf blower can be. But implementing and enforcing the bans is proving more challenging than many expected.
Why now: The push to ban gas-powered leaf blowers has gained an unlikely figurehead: Cate Blanchett, the Australian actress. “Leaf blowers need to be eradicated from the face of the Earth,” she said in an interview in March. Her complaints have gone viral on TikTok and other social media platforms. “It’s a metaphor for what’s wrong with us as a species,” Blanchett said. “We blow s--- from one side of our lawn to the other side, and then the wind is just going to blow it back!” Her complaints about leaf blowers — equal parts entertaining and earnest — stretch back nearly 20 years, and now the mood has caught up with her.
Read on ... to learn what cities around the U.S. are doing and what advocates are working on.
The push to ban gas-powered leaf blowers has gained an unlikely figurehead: Cate Blanchett, the Australian actress.
“Leaf blowers need to be eradicated from the face of the Earth,” she said in an interview in March. Her complaints have gone viral on TikTok and other social media platforms. “It’s a metaphor for what’s wrong with us as a species,” Blanchett said. “We blow shit from one side of our lawn to the other side, and then the wind is just going to blow it back!”
Her complaints about leaf blowers — equal parts entertaining and earnest — stretch back nearly 20 years, and now the mood has caught up with her. Today, more than 200 local governments in the U.S. have restricted gas-powered lawn equipment or provided incentives to switch to quieter, less-polluting electric tools. The first bans date back to the 1970s, but the trend picked up after the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, when newly homebound workers discovered just how inescapable the whine of their neighbor’s leaf blower can be.
“With every year that passes, more and more communities across the country are taking action to address the shocking amount of pollution and noise from gas lawn equipment,” said Kirsten Schatz, clean air advocate at the Colorado Public Interest Research Group, called CoPIRG.
Gas-powered leaf blowers aren’t just annoying; they’re bad for public health. Closing the windows can’t shut out their low-frequency roar, which can be louder than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit of 55 decibels up to 800 feet away. The unwanted sound can lead to high levels of stress, along with disturbing people’s sleep and potentially damaging hearing over time.
And while lawn and garden equipment is only a small slice of global carbon emissions, leaf blowers and other gas-powered tools “pack a big punch for the amount that they create based on the size of their engines,” said Dan Mabe, the founder of the American Green Zone Alliance, a group that works with cities and landscapers to shift to electric equipment. In 2020, fossil-fueled lawn and garden equipment in the U.S. released more than 30 million tons of CO2, more than the emissions of the city of L.A.
Cities and states across the country have taken different approaches to dealing with the problem. California’s law banning the sale of new gas-powered blowers took effect last January, while cities like Portland and Baltimore are phasing out their use. Some places, like Wilmette, Illinois, have enacted seasonal limits, either permanently or until a full ban takes effect. Others, like Colorado, attempt to sweeten the deal of buying electric lawn care equipment, offering a 30 percent discount.
But implementing the bans is proving more challenging than many expected. Many communities are frustrated that the new rules are not being properly enforced, said Jamie Banks, the founder and president of Quiet Communities, a nonprofit working to reduce noise pollution.
Westport, Connecticut, fought for years to get a seasonal restriction on gas-powered blowers, only to find that local officials were not enforcing it, Banks said. Noise complaints are not exactly at the top of police officers’ priority lists, and sometimes ordinances are written in a way that’s hard to carry out — police aren’t usually expected to go around town taking noise readings, for example. Some communities are taking a deliberate approach to the problem: Banks pointed to a group of towns in the greater Chicago area, including Wilmette, that are trying to create consistent policies across the region and working with the local police.
Then there’s the matter that swapping gas blowers for ones powered by electricity isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. While the costs are comparable for homeowners — you can get electric blowers at a big-box store like Home Depot for around $200 or less, cheaper than most gas ones — electric blowers are more expensive for commercial landscapers. They require multiple batteries for workers to get through the day. While a typical professional gas-powered blower runs for $550, a comparable electric one costs $700 and requires thousands of dollars worth of batteries. Landscapers also have to buy hundreds of dollars worth of charging equipment and find ways to charge safely on the go.
Plus, it can be difficult to meet the standards customers expect with electric leaf blowers, which are less powerful than gas ones. “If you have customers that are demanding that you get everything off the ground, and you better do it quickly, and you’d better not charge me too much money, it’s really tough,” Banks said.
Bans have already generated a political backlash in some Republican-led states. Texas and Georgia have passed laws prohibiting local governments from regulating gas-powered leaf blowers. The Western States Petroleum Association, an oil industry group, launched a Latino-focused messaging campaign in California that pushes back against laws to electrify vehicles and leaf blowers. But leaf blowers aren’t just a culture-war lightning rod; in some places, they’re leading to personal conflict. In Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago, several landscape workers allege they’ve been harassed by people reporting violations of the local ban.
The American Green Zone Alliance noted in a recent statement that “heavy-handed bans on gas-powered leaf blowers can unintentionally create stress and hardship for workers who often labor for low wages, with limited benefits or control over their working conditions.”
Although there remain a lot of details to work out, the organization is still pushing lawn care to go electric. “We are trying to convince our industry, ‘Look, we need to accelerate this,’” Mabe said.
The alliance is advocating for incentives that are sufficient to make the new equipment affordable for landscaping businesses operating on razor-thin margins. (In the end, lower fuel and maintenance costs for electric blowers can save companies money if the equipment is properly cared for, Mabe said.) Seasonal bans on gas-powered leaf blowers may be more feasible in some places than year-round ones, because they leave short windows for using the fossil-fueled devices in the spring and fall to take care of heavy cleanup jobs.
Another solution: Customers could loosen their expectations and accept a scattering of leaves, instead of demanding a perfectly manicured lawn. “Now, if that aesthetic was more relaxed, that could help change things,” Banks said. “Maybe they wouldn’t need to carry so many batteries.” Leaving some leaves on the ground is, at least ecologically speaking, a good thing — decaying leaves fertilize the soil and form a protective layer that provides shelter for snails, bees, and butterflies.
And of course, in many cases, a leaf blower isn’t needed at all: You can do as Blanchett advises and take matters into your own hands with a good-old fashioned rake.
About this article
Kate Yoder is a senior staff writer at Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change. This story was originally published by Grist.
Farmworkers harvest banana peppers at a farm near the town of Helm on July 1, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Topline:
Fearful of sharing sensitive information, California farmworkers started staying away from mobile medical clinics after President Trump took office. “There’s a lot of distrust,” said a doctor in Fresno County.
Why now: The doctors sense the decline in participation is connected to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement activity. University of California San Francisco mobile health clinic director Dr. Kenny Banh said patient visits to his rural mobile health vans started dropping at the beginning of the year, when President Donald Trump took office for his second term, vowing to crack down on illegal immigration.
Why it matters: With fewer patients showing up for preventive care, Banh said, people will inevitably get sicker and end up in the emergency room. That costs more money and threatens to overwhelm the health system.
Read on... for what getting health care to remote communities in California has been like.
On a scorching summer day, dozens of farm laborers paused their work picking banana peppers in a remote field 26 miles from Fresno and filed into a pop-up medical clinic. It was a chance to pick up medication and take basic health assessments, such as blood pressure and glucose monitoring.
The program gathered steam through the COVID-19 pandemic and during California’s decade-long expansion of health care to immigrants who are in the country without authorization. But this year, doctors are starting to notice that laborers aren’t showing up for care like they used to.
The doctors sense the decline in participation is connected to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement activity. UCSF mobile health clinic director Dr. Kenny Banh said patient visits to his rural mobile health vans started dropping at the beginning of the year, when President Donald Trump took office for his second term, vowing to crack down on illegal immigration.
“There’s a lot of distrust. I come from the university, I have a white coat; people are worried. We do as much as we can to tell them how we protect their data,” Banh said.
Dr. Kenny Banh, director of the mobile health unit for UCSF-Fresno, at a health fair at Harris Ranch in Coalinga on Oct. 18, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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According to UCSF, visits to their mobile clinics dropped by around 36% as enforcement activity increased in California. In 2024, the mobile clinics would see on average 34 patients per outing, but in the past few months, the number of patients had dropped to around 22 per outing. People are also less willing to sign up for Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for lower-income households, because they fear giving the government their data if they aren’t authorized to be in the country, Banh said.
It could get worse.
California scaled back the law that allows all income-eligible residents regardless of immigration status to receive health insurance through Medi-Cal by temporarily limiting enrollment next year. And, counties are bracing for Medicaid cuts under the budget law Trump signed earlier this year that they say will make it harder for them to sustain programs serving distinct populations, like the one that brings health care to rural farmworkers.
“It's going to be more restrictive in terms of work requirements, more regular re-enrollments, and more stringent requirements on states to comply with federal mandates,” Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young, an assistant professor of public health at UC Merced. “This is a push-out. The policy is really designed to restrict people from accessing Medicaid, or you know, in California, we call it Medi-Cal.”
UCSF-Fresno Medical student Darlene Tran checks the blood pressure of a farmworker in an equipment barn during part of the Rural Mobile Health program visit at a farm outside of Helm on June 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Getting health care to remote communities
The mobile clinic Banh leads is part of a larger initiative from the Fresno Department of Public Health to reduce chronic and communicable diseases among hard-to-reach populations in the county. It gained funding most recently through a COVID-19 relief law that Fresno County steered to the clinics, which were led by UCSF and Saint Agnes Medical Center.
The COVID-19 money is running out, but the program has another year of funding locked in.
Farmworkers harvest banana peppers at a farm near the town of Helm on July 1, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Farmworkers line up in an equipment barn to get a check-up by the staff of UCSF-Fresno, part of the Rural Mobile Health program, at a farm outside of Helm on June 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Farmworkers line up in an equipment barn to get a check-up by the staff of UCSF-Fresno, part of the Rural Mobile Health program, at a farm outside of Helm on June 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Clinics from both organizations can be found at community events, food distribution drives in rural communities, schools, and sometimes at farm working sites. The Saint Agnes mobile clinic van has two exam rooms inside for patients to receive care.
A patient walks into the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit mobile clinic, parked in the parking lot of Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on May 21, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Patient and Parlier resident Javier Hernandez getting his blood pressure and blood sugar test during a check-up.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Doctor Nicholas Gill is pulling blood sugar testing strips from a container during a check-up examination in the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit mobile clinic, parked in the City Heritage Park parking lot in Parlier on May 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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According to Ivonne Der Torosian, vice president of community health and well-being with Saint Agnes Medical Center, the program is designed to provide medical school students an opportunity to serve the community and create access to health care.
“We are explicitly contracted to go out to rural Fresno County and serve agricultural workers, partner with employers of those farming workers, and also provide services to their families.”
UCSF-Fresno staff member checks the blood sugar of a farmworker during a check-up in an equipment barn during a Rural Mobile Health program visit at a farm outside of Helm on June 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Community health workers also provide health education and make referrals to nearby primary care providers for individuals who cannot be treated on-site.
“We do basic screenings, including primary and preventive care, for many of the families we serve. We’re looking at connecting them to primary care providers,” Der Torosiran said. “We are providing vaccinations, we are providing glucose monitoring, and looking at their hypertension and blood pressure readings. So, really basic services they would get in a primary care setting."
Dr. Ebraheem Quadri examines a patient in the parking lot outside the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit clinic, located in Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on Aug. 28, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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No nearby hospital
Dr. Navdeep Lehga, a resident physician, recently began a shift in the Saint Agnes medical van in Mendota’s Rojas Pierce Park. It’s an agricultural community just less than one hour west of Fresno. A line of people awaited her on the curb to pick up food from the distribution center and to see her and her team for a check-up.
A resident sits on a chair in front of the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit mobile clinic parked in the parking lot of Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on Aug. 28, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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As the morning progressed, Navdeep saw patient after patient in the mobile clinic's exam room or went outside to see patients in the parking lot, checking blood pressure with a gauge strap on their patients' arms and glucose levels with finger pricks.
Dr. Navdeep Lehga sets up equipment in the exam room of the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit mobile clinic parked in the parking lot of Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on Aug. 28, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Dr. Navdeep Lehga checks a patient’s blood sugar in the exam room of the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit clinic, parked in the lot of Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on Aug. 28, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Dr. Navdeep Lehga checks a patient’s blood sugar in the exam room of the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit clinic, parked in the lot of Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on Aug. 28, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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She said most of the patients she sees are farm workers and immigrants. Much of the rural population doesn’t have easy access to medical care — the nearest hospital is 35 miles away. Some of her patients may seek out the medical van for primary care because they don’t know where else to go.
“That's why they come here. We give them the gist of what's going on. But we're limited on our supplies and what we can check,” she said.
Lehga says the number of people coming to the van has slowed down since immigration enforcement has kicked up. She has heard patients speaking to staff during the intake session talk about their fears of coming to the van and seeking out health care after a summer of intensified immigration raids.
Dr. Navdeep Lehga examines a patient in the parking lot outside the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit clinic, located in Rojas Pierce Park in Mendota on Aug. 28, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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“We did notice there used to be a lot more patients coming before they have gotten scared and they don't want to because they're not sure who will show up,” Lehga said. “They did feel comfortable before coming here because they knew it was safe. Now I think patients are more scared to come in general just because they don't know who can show up.”
Dr. Arianna Crediford, chief resident physician with Fresno St. Agnes Rural Mobile Health, said that visits to the van have dropped by 15 to 20% this year.
“We can speculate that it’s because of the issues with immigration at this time, that seems to be a big influence with farmworkers and food packing,” she said.
Crediford said she’s heard some patients mention the worry about seeking care and what that might imply for them but they have made it clear that they don’t collect immigration information and that they don’t need to talk to them about it at all.
UCSF-Fresno staff member checks the blood sugar of a farmworker during a check-up in an equipment barn during a Rural Mobile Health program visit at a farm outside of Helm on June 16, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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“The idea that people have to be scared to receive health care is heartbreaking. It would really put their health conditions at risk, conditions that require weekly sometimes monthly follow-up. We’re the last line of defense that they’re able to go to besides emergency rooms when they come in with an actual life-threatening event. The day this population can’t comfortably and safely seek care their health is going to be put in danger because of that,” said Crediford.
The population, which is often uninsured, suffers from high rates of hypertension, diabetes or high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, oftentimes without treatment, Banh said. Frequently, the rural health team is the only health care provider patients see.
A farmworker harvests banana peppers at a farm near the town of Helm on July 1, 2025.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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With fewer patients showing up for preventive care, Banh said, people will inevitably get sicker and end up in the emergency room. That costs more money and threatens to overwhelm the health system.
“People don’t disappear because you changed policy. They still need care. What you’re doing is delaying care until the outcomes are worse, and there’s not much you can do but hospitalize the patient,” he said.
Jordan Rynning
holds local government accountable, covering city halls, law enforcement and other powerful institutions.
Published December 1, 2025 10:51 AM
The California Supreme Court building in San Francisco.
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Jeff Chiu
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Associated Press
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Topline:
L.A. lawyer Ronen Zargarof was found to have used a fake immigration enforcement operation to charge a client fees. Zargarof scammed tens of thousands of dollars from a client beginning in 2021, according to the State Bar of California, which recommended he be disbarred last month.
Why it matters: George Cardona, chief trial counsel of the State Bar of California, said people navigating immigration law are especially vulnerable to misconduct and misrepresentation by lawyers.
How to protect yourself: Cardona stressed the importance of doing some research when looking for a lawyer. Search for a attorney on the State Bar of California's webpage to check their license status and disciplinary history, he said, and ask friends or look online for first-hand reviews.
Read on... for more about Zargarof's case.
The email was urgent and alarming.
The message appeared to come from the L.A. Field Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It said Patty Lui’s toy business in downtown L.A. was under federal investigation, and she had 24 hours to contact the agency — “whether individually or by legal representative on your behalf.”
Text of a fabricated email Zargarof used to convince his client to send $10,000 to defend against nonexistent investigation.
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State Bar of California court filings
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By the time Lui suspected something was wrong, she said she’d paid her attorney, Ronen Zargarof, tens of thousands of dollars. According to findings from the California State Bar, Zargarof charged Lui for a number of “fictitious services.”
Zargarof’s license is currently suspended, according to State Bar records. In October, more than three years after the email about the fake ICE investigation, the State Bar Court recommended Zargarof be disbarred. They found that Zargarof, who was already working for Lui on another matter, knew the purported ICE email was fake. There was no urgent ICE investigation.
Lui told LAist that when she ended up sending Zargarof about $90,000.
“I was really rushing it and I really believed in what he said,” Lui told LAist.
Zargarof did not cooperate with the State Bar’s investigation into his dealings with Lui, who ultimately complained to the bar, or contest the charges set forth in the accusation filed by the bar against him, court documents show. The California Supreme Court still has to rule on whether Zargarof will be disbarred.
Zargarof has not responded to LAist's requests for comment on this story. According to civil court filings, he also ignored multiple orders to provide discovery materials in his case.
The documents show that Zargarof’s defense lawyers argued in February 2021 that he was unable to attend a deposition because he was out of state with no estimated return date. The lawyers then filed to leave the case in April, shortly after Zargarof was ordered by the court to attend a deposition the following month. Zargarof did not attend the deposition, court records state, and the court ruled against him in a default judgement.
How to protect yourself
George Cardona, chief trial counsel of the State Bar of California, said people navigating immigration law are especially vulnerable to misconduct and misrepresentation.
The State Bar files charges against 100 to 200 attorneys each year, Cardona said. Those charges can lead to disciplinary actions like suspension, disbarment or fines.
“ Of the cases we file, a fair number involve misappropriations of funds or misrepresentations,” Cardona told LAist. “We have had other cases, particularly in immigration context, involving fabricated documents.”
As federal immigration cases have ramped up this year with the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies, there may be even more risk.
Cardona recommends anyone needing a lawyer to look into the attorney you plan to hire before trusting them to represent you in court.
A search of court records in late 2021, when Lui first hired Zargarof, could have turned up a judgment against him for more than $170,000. According to court filings, Zagarof was ordered to pay damages of $76,500 for breach of contract and $48,500 for “tort causes,” including battery, assault, domestic violence, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiff is listed as a “Jane Doe.”
“The Court finds Defendant's conduct was willful, wanton, oppressive and malicious,” the order states.
When it comes to keeping yourself safe from fraud, Cardona said, the first thing you should do is search for a lawyer on the State Bar of California's webpage before deciding whether to hire them.
“ First, it can confirm that they're a lawyer, and second, it will show if they have any disciplinary history,” he said.
Cardona said people posing as lawyers is especially prevalent in immigration cases.
After checking whether a lawyer is licensed or has a history of disciplinary actions, he said you should look online for reviews or check with friends who may have an attorney they know first-hand.
The lawyer will be acting on your behalf, Cardona said, “ so it's important to have someone you can trust.”
A cautionary tale
Lui initially hired Zargarof to handle a separate, civil employment case in November 2021.
She told LAist that she never met Zargarof in person. November is a particularly busy time for her business making and selling teddy bears, Lui said, and for a few weeks it seemed Zargarof was on top of the case.
“ He was always telling me that he just came out from the court and this is what I need,” Lui said, “I need to pay and pay and pay.”
Zargarof began asking for more money to cover various fees, she said, pushing her to quickly send him money.
“ I’d have to rush to send him a wire,” Lui told LAist. “I was so nervous.”
According to the State Bar’s findings, some of Zargarof’s fees were for “fictitious services,” including $2,500 to have her daughter dismissed from the civil case against Lui, and $6,000 for proceedings before the “Labor Board of Los Angeles County.”
The State Bar noted in court documents that Lui’s daughter was never accused of any wrongdoing in the case, and that the “Labor Board of Los Angeles County” does not exist.
The bar described in court filings how Zargarof made up these scenarios to charge Lui fees for services he never provided.
Zargarof sent text messages to Lui, which were quoted in court filings and provided more information on the investigation.
“There were two search warrant[s] . . . for your computers and files. We are dismissing those today,” Zargarof messaged Lui.
Zargarof said that he knew an “immigration experts partner,” named Tracey Pierantoni, and directed Lui to pay $10,000 into Pierantoni’s bank account.
“They are going to charge a flat rate of 5 [thousand] per file = 10k so I think it will be cheaper for you to wire them before 130 today instead of putting it on card,” said one message included in court documents.
There was no ICE investigation, according to the court documents, and Tracey Pierantoni Zargarof is not a licensed attorney in the state of California.
Court documents allege that Pierantoni Zargarof is one of several family members Zargarof used to accept payments from Lui.
Pierantoni Zargarof denies any involvement in the payments, and told LAist she intends to file charges against Zargarof for identity fraud.
“I have nothing to do with his criminal activity," Pierantoni Zargarof said when asked for comment. She added that she hasn't seen him in two or three years and doesn't know where he is or how to reach him.
Details from the State Bar Complaint
While Lui was trying to keep up with her business and pay Zargarof’s fees, court records document that Zargarof ran up a $25,000 bill on Lui’s credit card to pay for a hotel stay at the Rosewood Miramar Beach in Santa Barbara.
Zargarof told Lui he was using the card to hire private investigators for her case, she told LAist. Once she learned that wasn’t true she went to her bank with a fraud claim.
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She also made a complaint to the State Bar of California in August 2022, which led to disciplinary charges against Zargarof in April 2025.
Lui said her bank was able to return the money that was charged to her card, but she hasn't been able to recover tens of thousands of additional payments that the State Bar found were for "fictitious services.”
Namrata on the Sacramento State campus on Nov. 14, 2025. Namrata is an international student from India studying political science at Sacramento State. She uses the singular name Namrata as her legal name.
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Aliza Imran
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CalMatters
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Topline:
The number of new international students enrolling in college in the U.S. is dropping. Their losses will be felt beyond classrooms, as foreign students in particular drive scientific research and advancement. As the state with the most international students, California will likely feel the biggest impact.
Why now: A recent report by the Institute of International Education shows that the number of international college students in the U.S. is mostly stable for now, with just a 1% decrease in enrollment this fall. However, the report also found a 17% decline in new international students enrolling in American colleges and universities.
Why it matters: Over 1.1 million international students studied in the U.S. during the last academic year. Of those students, 12.5% — over 140,000 — studied in California, making it the state with the largest international student population.
Read on... for what this means for California.
Until this year, UCLA senior Syed Tamim Ahmad considered staying in the U.S. after graduation to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. But when the Trump administration revoked thousands of student visas last spring, he spent many sleepless nights supporting his peers as his school’s international student representative. The experience left him exhausted.
Ultimately, most student visas were reinstated following pressure from courts and judges nationwide. But the speed and intensity of the revocations — coupled with a lack of institutional support — caused distrust and anxiety for international students like Ahmad.
“After all that fiasco, I decided no, not anymore,” said Ahmad, who was born in India and raised in the United Arab Emirates.
Ahmad, an integrated biology and physiological sciences major, is now planning to go to medical school in Australia, where he said he can do research “in peace” without fearing changes to his visa status or funding.
A recent report by the Institute of International Education shows that the number of international college students in the U.S. is mostly stable for now, with just a 1% decrease in enrollment this fall. However, the report also found a 17% decline in new international students enrolling in American colleges and universities.
And from what students like Ahmad are saying, fewer are also likely to stay in the U.S. after graduation.
Tightening federal policies about who can live and work in the U.S. from abroad threaten further decreases in enrollment and losses of talent. International students bring diverse viewpoints and perspectives that enrich the classroom environment and lead to scientific and economic advancements, researchers and faculty alike told CalMatters.
The National Science Board found in a 2022 report that more temporary visa holders earn STEM doctorates than citizens and permanent residents combined, while international students earn a disproportionate amount of doctoral degrees in critical and emerging technologies. Foreign students in particular drive scientific research and advancement in the U.S.
Over 1.1 million international students studied in the U.S. during the last academic year. Of those students, 12.5% — over 140,000 — studied in California, making it the state with the largest international student population.
Last fall, international students made up 12% of the total student enrollment in the University of California system, with over 35,000 students from foreign countries. The California State University system enrolls nearly 14,000 international students, or about 3% of total enrollment.
This fall, the Cal State number has dropped to 12,122 students, according to the Cal State data dashboard. An official with the University of California Office of the President said the UC will not release enrollment data until later in December or January.
The Institute of International Education collected responses from 828 U.S. higher education institutions for its report. While it is unclear how many of these were California institutions, the report states that 22% of responses were from western states.
The UC system has faced pressure from the California Legislature in recent years to increase the number of students from California. In response, the UC’s 2030 Capacity Plan proposed decreasing the amount of nonresident students. UC Regents also increased tuition for incoming nonresident students by over $3,400 starting this fall.
Scenario modeling from the Association of International Educators showed California facing a projected 15% decline in overall international student enrollment this academic year. This would mean over 7,000 fewer international students for California’s two public university systems. The education nonprofit projects this drop could result in California losing more than $1 billion in revenue — based on the tuition and living expenses foreign students must pay — with similar enrollment trends across the country driving losses of nearly $7 billion nationwide.
Current realities for international students in California
Dorothy, an undergraduate student from China and opinion columnist for The Daily Cal at UC Berkeley, said anxiety has increased among her peers under Trump’s presidency. She asked that her full name not be published due to fear of retaliation from the federal government.
Recently, her reporting on the international student experience in California has been bleak.
“A lot of students are just debating whether they should focus their future on their home country or continue to seek employment here” after graduating, she said.
She also said no amount of support from her university would be enough to make her feel fully secure from federal policy.
“If I get my visa revoked, I [won’t] be able to just come back and continue my education here, because [the decision] can be overruled by a larger government,” she said.
The total number of foreign students pursuing higher education in the U.S. under the F-1 visa, which classifies holders as nonimmigrant full-time students, had steadily increased since 2020, surpassing pre-COVID numbers in 2024.
At the same time, the number of foreign students on temporary work authorizations, called Optional Practical Training, also increased. In the last academic year, nearly 300,000 foreign students were working with the authorization, a 21% increase from the prior year. Part of this accounted for graduate students entering the workforce.
But graduate student numbers are also declining. This fall, graduate enrollment decreased by 12%, according to the Institute of International Education report, which may also be a response to Trump’s research funding cuts.
Namrata on the Sacramento State campus on Nov. 14, 2025. Namrata is an international student from India studying political science at Sacramento State. She uses the singular name Namrata as her legal name.
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Aliza Imran
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CalMatters
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Sacramento State student Namrata, an international student from India who uses the singular name as her legal name, said her academic experience as a political science major has suffered due to her international student status.
She said faculty and peers have advised her to avoid writing about certain topics in her academic papers. Namrata referenced a recent English paper she wrote on freedom of speech, explaining that her professor cautioned her against making the piece overly political and discouraged her from addressing issues such as genocides or human rights violations. She said she feels restricted within her major and that her “degree doesn't have value.”
“I don’t even have an equal chance to succeed as other students,” she said. “I wish I was them.”
Namrata is thinking about pursuing her master’s degree in another country or her home country.
Roma Singh, a freshman cinematic arts major from South Africa at Cal State Long Beach, said that while the immigration crackdown did “throw a wrench” in her plans, she ultimately decided that coming to California was the best decision for her aspirations. Singh hopes to pursue a career in Hollywood, and that being near Los Angeles will allow her to enter the industry.
Singh said that attaining her F-1 student visa was a difficult process. Embassy appointments were scarce, and she and her family scanned the embassy website for hours, several days in a row, to find an opening.
“I know some students who were hoping to attend Long Beach and they weren't able to because they weren't able to get an appointment,” Singh said.
International students are anxious about their futures
Many international students come to the U.S. with the goal of staying permanently. But with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, several told CalMatters the U.S. is becoming a less desirable destination for education and residency.
The path for international students to stay in the U.S. after graduation isn’t easy. Through the temporary work authorization, F-1 visa holders can work in the U.S. for up to 12 months. The institute report shows that 92% of higher education institutions believe that without that work authorization, international students would likely choose other countries for their education.
Syed Tamim Ahmad on the UCLA campus in April 2023. Ahmad is an international student from United Arab Emirates who will be leaving the U.S. for medical school in Australia.
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Students may also pursue a work visa like the H-1B, which permits residency for an initial three-year period.
But a recent additional $100,000 fee for the H-1B visa — a common next step for international students wishing to stay in the U.S. after graduation — adds a roadblock for international students hoping to remain in the U.S.
One major challenge for thousands of students, both current and prospective, has been navigating Trump’s June travel ban to and from 12 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa. For seven more countries spread across the globe, he enacted a partial travel ban, including forbidding new student visas.
Students who already had visas were not subject to the ban, but many were advised by their universities to not leave the U.S., as re-entry was not guaranteed due to rapidly changing federal policy.
What international students bring to California
International students are a key source of revenue for tuition-driven universities, as they are not eligible for federal financial aid and often pay full tuition.
With 50% of students at the UC and Cal State paying zero tuition due to financial aid, the higher tuition paid by international and out-of-state students is advantageous, said Valerie Lundy-Wagner, associate director of the Public Policy Institute of California’s higher education center.
For the 2026-27 academic year, full-time nonresident students at the UCs will pay over $36,000 more in tuition than resident students. Assuming a normal credit load, nonresident students at Cal State will pay $14,000 more in tuition.
But while international students provide more tuition revenue than domestic ones, Lundy-Wagner said potential declines in enrollment are not dire, as institutions will have time to assess the intensity of enrollment declines and “what risk to tuition revenue they can expect,” allowing them to redistribute resources accordingly.
“No one expects that next year there are going to be no international students,” she said.
For institutions in California, particularly graduate programs, Lundy-Wagner said the presidential administration’s recent slashing of federal research funding is “more of an immediate issue” than declines in international enrollment.
And if enrollment declines are significant enough, the UC and Cal State systems can always supplement losses in tuition revenue with out-of-state students, as “there are still plenty of other states they could be recruiting from” where students would pay the same nonresident tuition.
But international students bring much more to California than simply additional tuition revenue, Lundy-Wagner said.
“The state has a diverse economy. Diverse economies require people who have diverse perspectives, and some of that will come in through folks who are coming from different countries,” she said. “It benefits California students and faculty to be interacting with folks who are from these different places and spaces.”
Sujatha Moni, a women’s and gender studies professor from India who teaches at Sacramento State, agrees.
She said that international students bring a unique perspective from their cultural backgrounds and interact with class content differently, providing domestic students with new viewpoints that they otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to.
“International students enhance the value of education on our campus,” she said. “They bring that critical diversity that is much needed, that is so enriching, for any campus.”
Applying to study in California now
Despite the challenges, Dorothy said she has never regretted her decision to come to California for her university education, citing interesting classes, high-caliber professors and a vibrant, international community as draw factors.
She said if international families can afford to send their students to the U.S., and if they “value the experience and the education itself, it’s still worth it” to study here. She is encouraging her brother to also study in the U.S.
At UCLA, Ahmad said he is wary about recommending international students study in the U.S., citing how draining it has been for him to constantly worry about his visa status and potential cuts to research funding on top of being a student. He told his brother to “absolutely not” apply to the U.S. for law school.
“Given the current situation, I would say no,” he said. “But if it was like, a year back, … I would say yes.”
Ahmad looks forward to finally being in Australia, away from “the political drama” in the U.S. and the pressure to constantly advocate for himself and his international peers.
“I can also take a step back and, you know, be a student.”
Aliza Imran and Kahani Malhotra are contributors with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is promising big changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which currently helps almost 42 million Americans buy groceries.
Why now: In recent media appearances, she said attention on SNAP during the government shutdown "has given us a platform to completely deconstruct the program" and said details about structural changes to the program would be released this week.
Why it matters: The Trump administration's latest campaign for SNAP changes comes as millions of recipients are already poised to lose benefits in the coming years as states begin to implement new work requirements and eligibility rules that Republicans in Congress passed over the summer that are the deepest cuts in history to the program.
Read on... for more about the proposed changes.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is promising big changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which currently helps almost 42 million Americans buy groceries.
In recent media appearances, she said attention on SNAP during the government shutdown "has given us a platform to completely deconstruct the program" and said details about structural changes to the program would be released this week.
Rollins has made a case for sweeping changes to SNAP by asserting her agency uncovered "massive fraud" in state data the agency demanded, and has emphasized statistics suggesting wrongdoing without providing the underlying data or details.
The Trump administration's latest campaign for SNAP changes comes as millions of recipients are already poised to lose benefits in the coming years as states begin to implement new work requirements and eligibility rules that Republicans in Congress passed over the summer that are the deepest cuts in history to the program.
In a Fox Business interview last month, Rollins said the further changes she is proposing will "make sure those vulnerable Americans who really need that benefit are going to get it. And for all the rest of the fraudsters and the people who are corrupt and taking advantage of it — we're going to protect the taxpayer, too."
Food policy experts say they are concerned that Rollins' talking points suggest a distorted view of the prevalence of SNAP recipients committing fraud, and seem to conflate fraud with payment errors of any kind.
"My worry is that she's risking setting a public narrative that this is a program that has more fraud than it actually does, or that the people who need it and use it to meet their very basic food needs are somehow committing a crime by seeking food assistance," said Stacy Dean, executive director of George Washington University's Global Food Institute and a former U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) official during the Biden administration.
"And that's just it's not it's not good for the program. It's absolutely terrible for the people who need it," Dean said.
Comments Rollins made in recent weeks that everyone on SNAP would have to reapply sparked confusion among SNAP recipients, state officials and food policy experts. SNAP recipients already have to go through a recertification process — in most cases every six or 12 months, and it is unclear what legal authority USDA would have to add additional steps.
A group of Democratic U.S. senators sent a letter last month asking Rollins to clarify what she meant and pointed out that SNAP is facing "unprecedented cuts" and there is additional uncertainty after the Trump administration halted SNAP payments during the shutdown.
"We are therefore troubled that the Administration could choose, at this moment, to add additional red tape that creates duplicative and unnecessary barriers to accessing nutrition assistance for families," the letter reads.
USDA officials are seemingly walking back the suggestion that there will be a new reapplication process for SNAP recipients. A statement from the agency indicates that it plans to use existing recertification protocols.
"Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends. Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it," reads a statement from a USDA spokesperson. "Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of state data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with states."
But 28 states and Guam did turn over data, according to a USDA spokesperson, and Rollins has been citing statistics from that data in several media appearances in recent weeks as evidence that the food assistance program needs to be overhauled.
In a recent News Nation interview, Rollins said the state data showed that "186,000 dead people receiving benefits, 500,000 Americans receiving benefits two times, so double what they should be receiving. We've arrested more than 120 people with SNAP fraud," Rollins said.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins points to a chart on SNAP benefits during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Oct. 31 in Washington, D.C.
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Anna Moneymaker
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Getty Images
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"And that doesn't include most of the blue states where we believe there's even more fraud and abuse. And under the last administration, the SNAP benefits increased 40%. So clearly, there's a right-sizing that needs to happen."
The USDA has not presented data that backs up these statistics, which makes it hard to evaluate their significance.
For example, some deceased individuals will inevitably be enrolled in the program because state officials have to verify the death and provide time for the household to respond before SNAP benefits are reduced or terminated. Households that erroneously receive payments when someone is deceased must pay that money back.
As for people receiving two benefit payments, the specifics of the cases Rollins cited are still unknown, but in court filings a California state official listed a number of legitimate explanations for why that can occur — including when a SNAP household is owed a supplemental payment to correct an error.
It is also unclear what Rollins means when she says SNAP benefits increased 40% under the Biden administration. USDA did not respond to a question seeking clarification.
Lauren Bauer, a fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and the associate director of The Hamilton Project, analyzed USDA data but was unable to find evidence of a 40% increase under Biden. Instead, she found that during Trump's presidency benefit costs increased by more than 30%, while during Biden's term they decreased by almost 17%.
"The dynamics of benefit increases and decreases is not really about presidencies. It's about the business cycle and where we are in terms of a recession and in terms of the climb out of it," Bauer said.
More SNAP changes to come
A draft of a regulation that the USDA submitted to the Office of Management and Budget last month could provide a clue for one of the changes to SNAP the Trump administration could unveil soon.
The draft calls for narrowing what is known as "broad-based categorical eligibility" for SNAP, which is currently used by more than 40 states to ensure welfare recipients can receive SNAP.
Researchers at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute have argued this eligibility rule should be ended because states are using it to allow people with incomes above the limit set by the SNAP statute to receive the benefit. Though they also cautioned that eliminating broad-based categorical eligibility must be done in a way that addresses "benefit cliffs" that would disincentivize people from earning slightly more because they would lose benefits and become worse off.
Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities who has criticized the potential change, estimates a policy change like this could lead to nearly 6 million people losing SNAP benefits.
"At every opportunity, the administration is seeking additional ways to attack anti-hunger programs," Bergh said.
