Trump resumes student visa interviews. From social media to personal beliefs here’s what’s being screened
The State Department is restarting interviews for student visas applicants after freezing any new interview appointments for nearly a month.
Last month, the State Department ordered an immediate freeze as Donald Trump’s administration prepared to expand how it reviews applicants’ social media profiles while taking aim at college campuses over pro-Palestine demonstrations.
The new guidance directs embassies and consulates to “conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants,” including academic and vocational studies students (F and M visas) as well all applicants in educational and cultural exchange programs (J visas).
Those applicants will be instructed to change the privacy settings on their social media profiles to “public.” The new guidelines impact not only new applicants but also students whose applications are currently in progress.
A recent cable directs diplomats to review social media profiles for “any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.”
Another instructs diplomats to screen for “advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security” and “support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.”
If social media profiles are “private” or limited, “you should treat the case as any other where an applicant fails to provide certain information on request,” according to a cable reviewed by The Washington Post.
Another instruction, in bold, tells diplomats: “You must consider whether such failure reflects evasiveness or otherwise calls into question the applicant’s credibility.”
The new screening measures follow similar guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and language from across the administration as it targets campus dissent against Israel’s war in Gaza, which officials broadly characterized as antisemitic.
Last month, USCIS announced the agency was “immediately” reviewing immigrants’ social media accounts for what it considers “antisemitic activity” that could be used as evidence to deny them legal status in the United States.
“This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity,” according to the agency.
The measures follow a series of high-profile arrests of international students and academics for their roles in campus activism. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he “proudly” revoked hundreds of student visas in response.
Trump has zeroed in on campus activism at prestigious universities, including Harvard University, one of a handful of institutions that has pushed back against the administration’s funding threats. The Department of Homeland Security accused the university of fostering “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators.”
DHS also ordered the administration to “terminate” the university’s certification for enrolling international students, and commanded all currently enrolled foreign students to leave the university or risk losing their legal status in the country. A federal judge temporarily blocked the order.
