Trump admin halts new student visa interviews, mulls more social media vetting: Report

New York: The Trump administration is ordering US embassies and consular sections to pause scheduling new interviews for student visa applicants as it is considering social media vetting of foreign individuals looking to study in America, according to media report on Tuesday.

“The Trump administration is weighing requiring all foreign students applying to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting,” a news report in Politico said.

“In preparation for such required vetting, the administration is ordering US embassies and consular sections to pause scheduling new interviews for such student visa applicants,” the report cited a “cable” dated May 27 signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued septel, which we anticipate in the coming days,” the cable states, referring to the State Department shorthand for “separate telegram”.

The report noted that if the administration goes ahead with the plan, it could “severely slow down” the processing of student visas. “It also could hurt many universities who rely heavily on foreign students to boost their financial coffers,” it said.

The latest move comes days after the Trump administration ordered the Department of Homeland Security to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) certification, a move that meant Harvard could no longer enrol foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.

The Department of Homeland Security accused Harvard’s leadership of creating an “unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.”

The Politico report said that the administration had earlier imposed social media screening requirements, “but those were largely aimed at returning students who may have participated in protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza.”

The administration has intensified its crackdown on students who may have participated in pro-Palestine campus protests and has revoked visas and ordered deportations of those involved in such demonstrations.