Advocates for foreign students fear that a new Trump administration visa requirement of a social media review will serve as an ideological litmus test.
While the resumption of visa applications was welcomed, the State Department’s announcement that it would require public access to applicants’ posts added a new layer of uncertainty to the process.
“It’s good news, bad news. I mean, I’m happy that the interviews are opening up again, because there’s a lot of students that are running out of time to get here in the fall, and so that was creating a lot of stress and anxiety for them. But also … there’s still a lot of uncertainty,” said Shaun Carver, executive director of International House at the University of California, Berkeley.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask to check people’s social media accounts to come to the United States and make sure that they have the right intentions … I think what we’ve learned from this administration is that there’s no clarity on what they’re looking,” he added. “Is it anything critical of Trump will be triggered that you’re not allowed to come or are they looking for something that’s more specific to national security, not just political viewpoints?”
The State Department said it would look for those “who pose a threat to U.S. national security.” A person who refuses to make their social media accounts public could be denied a student visa to the United States.
While a student could delete their social media profiles entirely, it is unclear if that would also set off alarm bells.
“Every visa adjudication is a national security decision. The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests, and that all applicants credibly establish their eligibility for the visa sought, including that they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their admission,” the department’s announcement stated.
The State Department paused all processing and new interview appointments for visa applications in May in order to update its social media policies.
Some theorize the change comes after Trump administration agencies arrested numerous pro-Palestinian campus activists this spring with a plan to deport them based on Secretary Marco Rubio’s determination these individuals are a threat to the country’s foreign policy.
So far, the administration’s strategy is tied up in lawsuits.
“I think the motivation for it, in part, comes from the difficulty the Trump administration has had in removing people from the country who were student protesters that they wanted to deport and have run into longer court cases in the effort to deport them,” said Stuart Anderson, executive director for the National Foundation for American Policy. “And I think their frustration with getting people out of the country once they’re here and they have greater legal rights has motivated an effort to deny more people visas before they come in.”
Anderson pointed out that reviewing social media profiles would be a time-consuming process and wondered if AI or keywords would be implemented to speed the process along.
“How subjective will this be? There could be very obvious ones, if someone has made some really obvious statements … that promote terrorism or violence. But I think the question would be on whether someone maybe has an opinion that may be different from whoever is reviewing their media profile,” he concluded.
The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment.
The pause was criticized by advocates and caused panic among students and colleges because those coming to the U.S. couldn’t make travel or housing arrangements, and universities could not receive payments from these students, until their visas were approved.
It also added a new level of stress for foreign students who may be reconsidering coming to the U.S. amid the actions of the Trump administrations.
The federal government has arrested or stripped the visas for dozens of foreign students and is currently in a lawsuit with Harvard after it tried to take away the university’s ability to enroll international students.
While the actions against Harvard have been blocked by a judge, the overall environment has given foreign students second thoughts.
A person familiar with the discussions also told The Associated Press that consulates were instructed to prioritize foreign students who were enrolling in schools with a less than 15 percent foreign student population in its student body.
“Just anecdotally, from my own experience at I-House, typically India and China represent about 10 percent of our community. This year, so far, it’s 5 percent so we’re seeing a large decline in Indian and Chinese students,” Carver said, referencing Berkeley’s International House.
Anecdotally, he shared that an international student who previously studied in the U.S. and now works at Oxford University in Britain told him that “every day he’s getting emails from folks saying, ‘I’ve been admitted to Harvard or MIT or Cal or Stanford,’ and he’s getting emails from folks saying, ‘Can you help me? I want to come to Oxford.’”
“These universities in the UK and Canada and elsewhere are really seeing an opportunity to get the best and brightest to not just change universities or change states, whatever the current situation, but just get out of this uncertainty that currently exists and the tone of the United States,” Carver said.