COVID-19 Strikes U.S. Higher Education: An Opportunity to Center International Students and Their Diverse Needs

International students have contributed to the internationalization and diversification of U.S. higher education; yet, when COVID-19 struck, it became evident that this subset of the U.S. higher education student population was left unaccounted for and unprotected. This manuscript underscores the unimaginable damage and disruption that can occur when a global crisis of the highest magnitude meets under prepared-ness, pre-existing discrimination, and impulsive policy-making. It also highlights, for context, past crises and their impacts on international students, thus establishing a trend which places international students at the epicenter of the concomitant blows of crises of different nature. This manuscript provides the following implications for higher education stakeholders to consider in order to better guide, serve, and support international students during and after crises: (a) establish support systems specifically for international students, (b) create a sustainable emergency/crisis relief fund, (c) seek and maintain non-local partnerships, (d) problematize issues of inequity and actively disrupt injustice, and (e) develop intervention programs geared towards equity, inclu-sion, advocacy, and activism.