'They're going to be ok': Trump on Chinese students after visa crackdown

US president Donald Trump, on late Friday (local time), allayed Chinese students’ worries amid his administration's crackdown on academia.

A reporter asked Trump about his message to the Chinese college students in the US, to which he replied, “They're going to be ok. It's going to work out fine."

"We just want to check out the individual students we have. And that's true with all colleges," he told the reporter.

The past week has been particularly challenging for international students in the US due to tensions between the Trump administration and academic institutions, especially Harvard.

On Wednesday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio declared that he would take a strong stance by revoking visas of students from China. He has already canceled thousands of visas, primarily due to students' participation in activism against Israel's actions in Gaza, as well as for minor traffic offences and other violations.

Read: Why US is ‘aggressively’ revoking visas of many Chinese students

This 180-degree shift in Trump’s response towards Chinese students came after a US federal judge extended a temporary block on Trump's bid to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students on Thursday.

Trump called out Harvard for not providing the list of students to its administration. "They ought to give us a list and get themselves out of trouble”, he said on Friday.

Earlier this week, Harvard University president Alan Garber received a one-minute standing ovation when he called for universities to stand "firm" in the war the Trump administration has waged against students and schools.