TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 3-FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 3 367 July 6, 2020. A few weeks prior to the fall 2020 semester, international students were informed that they would be deported to their home countries if they were enrolled in fully online programs (ICE, 2020). International students became tasked with an impossible decision to either prioritize their health or their education. Unlike domestic students, who could safely attend programs online, the proclamation required international students to attend in-person classes to remain in the country (ICE, 2020). Although the proclamation was later amended to allow international students to attend online courses without deportation (ICE, 2020), the disparaging messages toward international students could not be overlooked. The presence of a discriminatory order that forced international students to choose between their safety and educational training is reflective of larger anti-immigration sentiments that push many students toward an emotional breakdown (Garcini et al., 2020). Mental Health Challenges for International Students Although international students contributed about $45 billion to the U.S. economy and to the development of 450,000 new jobs in the United States in 2018–19 (National Association of Foreign Student Advisers [NAFSA], 2020), worldviews that position international students as harbingers of innovation, intellectual diversity, economic success, and a necessity for sustaining higher education institutions are uncommon within American society (Williams & Johnson, 2011). Sadly, experiences of hate crimes are so frequent that many international students perceive them as normal consequences of being an international person in the United States (Lee & Rice, 2007; Pottie-Sherman, 2018). According to George Mwangi et al. (2019), for many international students, universities are far from being spaces of inclusivity and openness. Often, they were described as sites of oppression and “Americanization.” Interviews with international students fromAfrica indicated that due to their intersecting identities as racial and cultural minorities, participants in the study endured constant messages and actions undermining their culture and knowledge. In fact, persistent incidents of prejudice and discrimination made the participants feel “crazy” (George Mwangi et al., 2019). Chronic exposure to xenophobia, discrimination, and anti-immigrant sentiments has been documented to have profound impacts on international students’ psychological well-being (Houshmand et al., 2014; Ong et al., 2013). As a result of multiple factors, including xenophobia, international students suffer from severe psychological symptoms. One example is a recent study by Dovchin (2020), who found that parochial attitudes toward non-native English speakers and embedded linguistic racism had “serious ‘psychological damages’” (p. 815) on the international students’ mental health. Notably, the impact of “ethnic accent bullying” (p. 815) on her international student participants included development of social anxiety symptoms and suicidal ideation. Given that many of the instances of linguistic racism were found within classrooms, it is imperative that college counselors consider the pervasive influence of systemic inequities on international students’ mental health. Critical Feminist Perspectives Critical feminist paradigms acknowledge the powerful role of systemic influences and focus on change at structural levels. These paradigms challenge larger social structures (e.g., national and institutional policies) and promote the pursuit of social justice through clinical practice and inquiry (Moradi & Grzanka, 2017; Mosley et al., 2020). Thus, critical feminist paradigms are grounded in the philosophy that current social landscapes are inequitable and therefore unjust (Bonilla-Silva, 2013). Specifically, the critical feminist theory of intersectionality describes how systems of oppression and the social constructions of race, socioeconomic class, gender, and other identities interact in ways that influence one’s social positioning (Crenshaw, 1989). Given many international students’ intersecting identities as linguistic, racial, and ethnic minorities, counselors must consider how their unique combination of marginalized and privileged identities contribute to their social position and worldview as outlined in the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts et al., 2015). Consistent