The Week Evening Review
International students look abroad, Trump's celebrity pardons, and a deadly parasite's comeback

 
TALKING POINTS

Where will international students go if not the US?

As the Trump administration broadens its crackdown on international students, those students and their families are looking abroad to complete their education. Foreign students are "in chaos" as the White House threatens their American education, said The Hill. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week the administration had paused new student visas, would "aggressively revoke visas" for Chinese students, and suggested the U.S. could cap international student admissions at 15% of total enrollment. The administration believes foreign students study in America for "political purposes, not educational or scientific ones," said Jay Greene of the Heritage Foundation. 

The 'world's gain'?
There are "plenty of foreign governments and universities" eager to cultivate the talents of the world's "star students" who have long come to America and "helped make the United States a global tech and scientific leader," said NBC News. One likely winner is China. 

"Every ambitious Chinese parent" has longed to send their child to Harvard University, said Alex Lo at The South China Morning Post. But "what's the point of investing millions in your child's education" if they can suddenly be deported because of a presidential whim? That will be America's loss, but it will be the "world's gain." 

The U.S. is "not going to lose its appeal overnight," said Karishma Vaswani at Bloomberg. But Canada and the U.K. are already "poised to scoop up disillusioned applicants." So are Australia and New Zealand. Hong Kong, Tokyo and Malaysia also stand to benefit as Trump makes the U.S. a "far less inviting option."

'Shooting itself in the foot'
The losses will be felt not just on U.S. campuses but in "local and state economies, as well," said The Washington Post. During the 2023-24 school year, roughly 1.1 million foreign students contributed $44 billion to the American economy. Those students "pay rent, they go to restaurants, they travel," said Nicholas Barr, a professor at the London School of Economics. America is "shooting itself in the foot big time."

The irony is that Trump's crackdown will "hamper" his administration's "America First" goals for the "economy, science and technology, and national security," David L. Di Maria, a global engagement provost at the University of Maryland, said at The Conversation. Pushing away foreign students will "ultimately redirect talent to other countries, allies and adversaries alike."

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'We hope that the response will be the same as the US response to the attack on their Pearl Harbor or even harsher.' 

Pro-Kremlin military blogger Roman Alekhin, on his Telegram channel, calling for retaliation against Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian airbases yesterday, while invoking Japan's 1941 attack that led the U.S. to enter WWII. There's mounting online speculation about whether Vladimir Putin will again threaten the use of nuclear weapons.

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

President Donald Trump has enthusiastically embraced his constitutional power to pardon those convicted of federal crimes. His pardons have often reflected his personal interests and perceived opportunities of political expediency, rather than a cohesive philosophy of criminal justice reform. And befitting a consummate showman like Trump, many of those pardoned have been celebrities and other notables. 

Todd and Julie Chrisley
Convicted in 2022 on a host of financial and fraud-related charges, the eponymous stars of "Chrisley Knows Best" hid their crimes behind their "self-presentation as self-made businesspeople," said The New York Times. The Chrisleys "don't look like terrorists to me," Trump told the pair's daughter, Savannah, while sharing the news of their May 28 pardons, Savannah said to NewsNation.

The pair have been "unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted," said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields to NBC News. The family is now slated to appear in a new reality show.

Jay Johnston
Actor and comedian Jay Johnston was a mainstay on shows like "Bob's Burgers" until he was arrested and convicted for breaching the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. Johnston was ultimately sentenced to more than a year in prison in part for having "cracked jokes and interacted with other rioters as he used a cellphone to record the violence around him," said NPR. Johnston was pardoned in one of Trump's first presidential acts in January, along with hundreds of other Jan. 6 participants.

NBA YoungBoy
Born Kentrell Gaulden, rapper NBA YoungBoy ended "more than five years of legal morass" by pleading guilty to gun-related charges in multiple states in December, said The New York Times, only to be freed as part of the president's May pardon spree. Gaulden's legal saga has "come to a conclusion," said attorney Drew Findling, who previously served as Trump's legal counsel. The rapper has already announced a 32-date tour to begin this fall. 

Rod Blagojevich
After initially commuting a raft of sentences against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2020, including wire fraud, solicitation of bribes, and lying to the FBI, Trump waited until Feb. 10 of this year to fully pardon the Democrat. 

Following his commutation, Blagojevich became a "fierce defender of Trump as the president has faced his own legal battles," said Politico. The pair's relationship stretches back to Blagojevich's time on "The Apprentice."

 
 

Statistic of the day

3,000 years: The approximate age of an ancient Mayan city that has been unearthed in Guatemala, according to officials. Discovered by a team of Guatemalan and Slovakian archaeologists, the city is about six square miles, according to officials. One of the highlights is a nearby Mayan pyramid over 100 feet high.

 
 
the explainer

The New World screwworm is making a deadly comeback

A flesh-eating parasite is spreading throughout Mexico and rapidly moving northward. This has led to the USDA's suspension of cattle, horse and bison imports from Mexico to the U.S. And without intervention, the New World screwworm will propagate further, affecting livestock, wildlife and potentially even humans.

How bad is the New World screwworm?
NWS is a deadly parasitic infection that can "kill a full-grown cow within one to two weeks," said NPR. When affected, the fly's larvae will "burrow into a wound or mucus membranes of animals and rarely humans." The resulting "maggots feast on the flesh and blood of their host with tiny mouth hooks." 

Has this happened before?
NWS is not a new parasite, but it's a surprise that it's having a resurgence. The U.S. and Mexico were "able to eradicate the New World screwworm in the 1960s and '70s by releasing hundreds of millions of sterile adult flies that would mate with the females, ultimately preventing them from laying viable eggs," said NPR. 

In 2006, an invisible barrier in Panama "consisted of planes releasing millions of sterile screwworms to rain down over the Darién Gap every week," said The Atlantic. This effectively kept the parasite away from the U.S. and Mexico. However, in 2022, the barrier was breached, and cases started to rise across Central America and work their way northward, spreading most rapidly in 2024. 

To push the NWS population back down, the U.S. is "investing $21 million to renovate an existing fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico" that will "produce 60 million to 100 million additional sterile NWS flies weekly to push the population farther south," said the USDA. 

The U.S. cattle industry is "unprepared for the screwworm's return," said The Atlantic. "We were so successful," said a U.S. official in Central America to The Atlantic, "that literally people forgot." 

 
 

Good day 💿

… for autonomy. Taylor Swift has bought the rights to her first six albums. "All of the music I have ever made now belongs to me," the singer announced on her website. This ends an ownership battle that began in 2019 when music executive Scooter Braun acquired her former label before selling the master recordings to a private equity firm for $300 million.

 
 

Bad day 🚬

… for les fumeurs. France will ban smoking in all outdoor places where children might be beginning July 1, according to Health Minister Catherine Vautrin. The ban will include "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside schools, bus stops and sports venues," said the BBC. The freedom to smoke "must end where the freedom of children to breathe fresh air begins," said Vautrin.

 
 
Picture of the day

Etna eruption

Smoke and ash billow from Sicily's Mount Etna, which is experiencing "explosions of growing intensity," said Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology today. Tourists fled the mountain as this morning's eruption escalated from one of the world's most active volcanoes.
Fabrizio Villa / Getty Images

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

Summer reading is still a pastime worth indulging, especially with a consistent stream of enthralling would-be beach reads coming soon. This month's new releases include another love story by Taylor Jenkins Reid, an experimental memoir/fiction hybrid and an ode to Virgil Abloh.

'Atmosphere: A Love Story'
The bestselling author behind "Daisy Jones & The Six" and "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo," Reid infuses the "stratospheric tension of a 1980s space mission with a cosmic love story" in her latest novel, said The New York Times. The "touching and surprising love story is the emotional heart of the book," said Kirkus Reviews. (June 3, $30, Penguin Random House)

'The Mobius Book' 
Catherine Lacey's experimental book, "neither straightforward novel nor memoir," presents readers with "two distinct narratives" that begin on either cover, said Vulture. One story is an "intimate chronicle of the aftermath of the author's sudden breakup." The other is a story where "friends Edie and Marie process their relationships while ignoring what appears to be blood leaking from a neighbor's apartment." (June 17, $27, Macmillan Publishers)

'Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh' 
This biography of Virgil Abloh, the late former men's wear chief at Louis Vuitton, "doubles as a lens into a staid luxury industry undergoing rapid transformation," said The New York Times. Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Robin Givhan "deftly lays out how streetwear's grassroots revolution challenged fashion's stuffy notions of taste, exclusivity and their consumers." (June 24, $35, Penguin Random House)

 
 

Poll watch

Almost 4 in 5 Americans (77%) say stricter building standards are needed for communities at high risk of extreme weather events, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The poll of 5,085 adults also found that 64% think the government should help cover rebuilding costs after natural disasters. 

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'Is this the beginning of the end of America's national parks?'
Ted Kerasote at The New York Times
America's national parks have been a "golden goose," but the "outlook for the national parks next year is especially grim," says Ted Kerasote. Trump has "proposed hacking the Park Service's operating budget by roughly 30%, which would be catastrophic." We "would be witnessing the dismantling of a century-old system that has protected majestic scenery and places of ecological or historical importance from development." It has been a "model of stewardship of landscapes that belong to all Americans."

'Assad and Iran are out of Syria. The US should be too.'
Alex Madajian at The American Conservative
The "longer we keep American personnel in a rapidly changing part of the world where no vital U.S. interest is at stake, the more difficult it will be to prevent an unnecessary loss of life if the situation falls apart," says Alex Madajian. Whether Syria "prospers into a stable country or slides back into chaos, it's not worth American lives to guide Syria's fate." The U.S. should "focus on regions where core national interests are at stake."

'Corporations won't save LGBTQ+ people. Take their money for Pride anyway.'
Missy Spears at USA Today
Corporations are "not our friends," says Missy Spears. They "exist to sell us things. They exist to advertise their brand. They exist to maximize their profits." Every dollar "counts more than ever if we want to keep LGBTQ+ people informed, healthy and alive." It would "financially decimate" the LGBTQ+ community if they were "expected to take the already small amount of resources that we have and use them to replace hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sponsorships."

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

parthenogenesis

A Greek word meaning "virgin creation," which currently refers to female asexual reproduction. Parthenogenesis is "surprisingly common throughout the tree of life" and can be found in a "variety of organisms, including plants, insects, fish, reptiles and even birds," Mercedes Burns, a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said at The Conversation.

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Anahi Valenzuela, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Shutterstock / Getty Images; Vivian Zink / NBC / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; Dinar Bud / Getty Images; Penguin Random House / Granta / Hutchinson Heinemann