As institutions closed down in mid-March 2020, international students struggled with the decision of whether to stay or go back to their home countries, facing unpredictability in both scenarios. Department of Education guidance excluded international students from Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act relief, and federal guidelines pressured universities to return to in-person learning in fall 2020, threatening to send students home who could not take face-to-face classes. Effective support and future advocacy require carefully analyzing how institutional and federal policies differentially impacted the lives of international students in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. To thrive in the postpandemic period, we will have to make the case that international education is critical to the mission of higher education in creating global thinkers ready to participate in a global workforce.