EXCLUSIVE: Student Visa Applicants with 'Hostile Attitudes' Will Be Told They Can't Come to the U.S.

State Department employees who review applications from foreign citizens
for student and exchange visas will be told to review their social media
posts and search for signs that they “bear hostile attitudes toward our
citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles,”
according to a document obtained exclusively by The Free Press. 

The instructions are being announced today and will be sent to consular
offices in a cable, the State Department’s official channel of
communication. 

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an order to
temporarily halt interviews with foreign citizens applying for student
and exchange visas. That move was part of the Trump administration’s
ongoing crackdown against antisemitism at U.S. colleges and
universities. The new instructions will allow interviews to resume—with
new screening requirements that tell consular officers exactly what to
look for. 

American Universities Should Put America First
The cable instructs the consular officers to conduct an extensive social
media review of all applicants. Applicants will be required to set all
of their social media to a “public” setting, allowing officers to
thoroughly search for applicants “who bear hostile attitudes toward our
citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles; who
advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other
threats to U.S. national security; or who perpetrate unlawful
antisemitic harassment or violence,” according to the instructions
reviewed by The Free Press. 

For example, the cable added, “You might discover on social media that
an applicant endorsed Hamas or its activities,” in which case, the
applicant would presumably be denied a visa. 

Consular officers will have the discretion, however, to determine
whether an applicant’s activism amounts to an actual threat, the State
Department said in the instructions. For example, if an applicant were
to post on Instagram text that encourages the takeover of campus
buildings, their application would likely be treated differently than
that of an applicant raising money to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. 

The cable also told consular officers that when expediting student visa
applications, they should give preference to those seeking to study at
schools where foreign students are less than 15 percent of the total
student body. Foreign students at Harvard, for instance, make up 27
percent of the student body. 

The Trump administration is trying to deport some anti-Israel activists
who helped lead campus protests, including Columbia University alum
Mahmoud Khalil (center). (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images) In
addition to social media, State Department officials are required to
scrutinize each applicant’s “entire online presence,” including “any
databases to which the consular section has access.” The cable, which is
marked “SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED,” said to “implement these vetting
procedures within five business days.” 

expectation from American citizens that their government will make every
effort to make our country safer, and that is exactly what the Trump
administration is doing every single day. This is particularly true when
it comes to our visa system, which had previously lacked proper vetting
and screening mechanisms.” 

Toughened social media reviews “will ensure we are properly screening
every single person attempting to visit our country,” the official
added. 

“They think that the Biden administration and various college
administrators allowed these people free rein to impair the ability of
other people to learn,” said Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow at the
Center for Immigration Studies. “I’ll take them at face value when they
say that. And if that is their take, then they’re probably going to use
every shot in their locker, every tool in the toolbox, every knife in
the drawer to do that.” 

As the Trump administration continues trying to deport some anti-Israel
activists who helped lead campus protests, including Mohsen Mahdawi and
Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University, the State Department’s new
instructions show how determined the government is to not let some
people in at all. 

“Removing foreign nationals from the United States, even when they have
clearly violated our laws, is a lengthy, expensive, and difficult
process,” the instructions said. “Therefore, we must be vigilant during
the visa issuance process.” 

https://www.thefp.com/p/exclusive-student-visa-applicants-social-media-ch
eck