The administration of US President Donald Trump has ordered the freezing of new interviews to grant study visas to foreign students, in an initial step paving to expand the procedures for examining their accounts on social media.
A diplomatic document obtained by the “Politico” website today, Tuesday, signed by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, was directed to US diplomatic missions not to schedule any new dates for study or cultural exchange (F., M and J), until later instructions were issued.
According to the memo, “as of its date, and in preparation for the expected expansion of the mandatory examination of social media calculations, the consular departments should not add any new dates for study visas or cultural exchange, until further notice.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjl7ITY1Y7m
This step may lead to a great slowdown in the process of issuing student visas, which threatens possible financial damage to American universities, which depend heavily on international students as a basic source of income, especially in light of the local decline in the number of students.
The American administration had previously imposed some measures to examine the media, but it was mainly directed against students who participated in anti -Israel demonstrations against the background of the aggression on Gaza, a move that sparked widespread criticism within the academic and legal circles.
The document did not clarify the nature of the criteria that will be approved in examining the social media content of students, but it indicated executive orders related to combating “terrorism” and anti -Semitism.
According to Politico, a number of US State Department employees, in unofficial conversations, expressed their concern about the blurring of previous instructions, as it was not clear whether it was just sharing a picture of the Palestine flag, for example, on the “X” platform, the student had been exposed to further security scrutiny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tbg7qiq05s
This step comes in a wider context by the Trump administration to target American universities, especially “elite” universities such as Harvard, which the administration accuses of being “very liberal”, and is lenient with the manifestations of “anti -Semitism”, as described.
It is noteworthy that the Trump administration, during his sentences, adopted strict policies towards immigration and international education, led to a decline in the numbers of foreign students, and created a state of anxiety within academic circles on freedom of expression and the political climate within universities.
There has been no official comment from the US State Department, and the National Association for International Education (NAFSA) refused to comment on developments.
