Trump’s administration stops students visa appointments before

The State Department has ordered the United States embassies to stop temporarily programming the new student visas appointments, since the Trump administration works to expand social media projections for applicants, the latest in a series of restrictions on international students.

In a wire dated Tuesday and obtained by News themezone, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed diplomatic positions not to add more appointments for the visas of students and currencies in preparation for expanded research, and that they remove any appointment without filling with their calendars. If students have already scheduled their visa interviews, those can still advance.

The pause will last “until more orientation is issued” in the next few days.

The State Department is preparing for an “expansion of the detection and investigation of social networks required”, and all student visa applicants could be subject to social media controls, according to the cable. This additional exam would have “significant implications” for the embassies and operations of consulates, pause in the new necessary appointments, the cable said.

A senior state department official confirmed the accuracy of the cable to News themezone.

Political first reported the memorandum.

When asked about the students’ visas, the state department spokesman Tammy Bruce told journalists on Tuesday: “We took the investigation process very seriously for the one who comes to the country, and we will continue to do so.”

A state department official said on Wednesday that, although the department does not comment on internal communications, the programming of interview quotes with non -immigrant visas is “dynamic.” The official said that an embassy or capacity of the consulate reflects the time required for consular officers to judge the cases that are before them in full compliance with the US law, even to ensure that applicants do not represent a security risk for the United States.

“Each visas award is a national security decision,” said the state department official, added that each possible traveler to the United States undergoes a security investigation between agencies. “Prohibiting entry to the United States for those who could represent a threat to national security or public safety of the United States is key to protecting US citizens at home.”

International students who want to study in the United States should generally schedule interviews in an American embassy or consulate, usually in their country of origin, as part of the visa application process. Waiting times vary widely: in most embassies, quotes for students’ visa interviews can be programmed less than two months in advance, although some diplomatic positions have longer waiting.

Last month, the National Security Department said it would project some visa applicants, including people looking for students’ visas, for what he called “anti -Semitic activity in social networks and the physical harassment of Jewish people.”

The projections are part of a broader list of controls aimed at international students, some of whom have retired from the judicial system.

Last week, DHS He told Harvard University He can no longer register international students, increasing a battle of months between the administration and the Ivy League school. The secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, said that the administration “holds Harvard for promoting violence, anti -Semitism and coordination with the Chinese Communist Party on his campus,” but Harvard said the measure was illegal. A judge quickly blocked politics.

The Government has tried to deport a handful of students based on their pro-Palestinian activism, some of which have green cards, including Mohsen Mahdawi and Mahmoud Khalil of the University of Columbia, citing a law that allows us to revoke if someone raises “consequences of adverse foreign policy.” The lawyers argue that these visas revocations violate the rights of the first amendment of the students, although the government says it has the right to do so. Some students, including Mahdawi, have been released on bail.

And lawyers say the Trump administration He has tried to finish legal status For thousands of other international students, many of whom seemed to be attacked minor legal infractions. A federal judge has He blocked that effort.

In:
• Marco Rubio
• Trump administration

Schick and Olivia Victoria Gazis contributed to this report.