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Trump team pauses new student visa interviews as it weighs expanding social
media vetting
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-team-orders-stop-student-154635250.html
Nahal Toosi
Tue, May 27, 2025 at 10:46 AM CDT
The Trump administration is weighing requiring all foreign students applying
to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting — a
significant expansion of previous such efforts, according to a cable obtained
by POLITICO.
In preparation for such required vetting, the administration is ordering U.S.
embassies and consular sections to pause scheduling new interviews for such
student visa applicants, according to the cable, dated Tuesday and signed by
Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
If the administration carries out the plan, it could severely slow down
student visa processing. It also could hurt many universities who rely
heavily on foreign students to boost their financial coffers.
“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. (“Septel” is State Department shorthand for “separate
telegram.”)
The administration had earlier imposed some 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 cable doesn’t directly spell out what the future social media vetting
would screen for, but it alludes to executive orders that are aimed at
keeping out terrorists and battling antisemitism.
Many State Department officials have complained privately for months that
past guidance — for, say, vetting students who may have participated in
campus protests — has been vague. It’s unclear, for example, whether
posting photos of a Palestinian flag on an X account could force a student to
undergo additional scrutiny.
The administration has used a variety of rules to target universities,
especially elite ones such as Harvard, that it sees as too liberal and
accuses of allowing antisemitism to flourish on their campuses. At the same
time, it is carrying out immigration crackdowns that have swept up a number
of students.
Spokespeople for the State Department did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. An official with NAFSA: Association of International
Educators declined to offer immediate comment.
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