Interest Convergence and the Commodification of International Students and Scholars in the United States

International students and scholars in the United States (U.S.) have often been excluded from conversations about race, ethnicity, and migration within U.S. contexts. However, with the issuance of what is commonly known as the Travel Bans, fears emerged from the international education community of the Travel Bans affecting international student recruitment and enrollment. In this study, the authors highlight the ways in which an official statement from leaders of international higher education organizations employ interest convergence arguments, followed by a discussion of the ways in which convergence in this case is employed as a tool to garner U.S. soft power.