I’m American. My Boyfriend’s Not. Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Could Force Us Apart.

"Even though he is here legally and abides by the law, my boyfriend lives with the constant fear of being sent home."

Last August, I packed up a 10-foot U-Haul, leaving behind my comfortable college town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, ready to start graduate school in New York City.

When I moved to New York, I was only a year out from ending a long-term relationship with my high school sweetheart, so I planned to take my dating life slow. I hoped I’d go on a few dates. But I didn’t expect to fall in love. Until I met my boyfriend — a Fulbright scholar on a student visa.

We met organically at a graduate student social event outside of a bar in Greenwich Village last August. Friendly coffee meetups turned into dinners in Clinton Hill and walks along the Brooklyn Bridge. Until one night, after a first date filled with ferry rides and skyline views, he asked me to be his girlfriend at 11:59 p.m. in the middle of Times Square.

When we first started going out last October, we discussed what a future might look like for us. Fulbright requires students to return to their home countries for two years after the completion of their program. We have talked about how we might navigate that time apart, but mainly we stay focused on the guaranteed time we have together until he graduates next spring.

Our experiences as graduate students living in New York have revolved around each other. We’ve attended Broadway shows, Carnegie Hall performances and visited museums together. We’ve taken the Amtrak train to different cities, like Boston and Washington, D.C. We can agree that this bustling city would feel a little less full without each other.