Latest successful Harvard conflict against Trump
The State Department has told U.S. embassies and consulates to grow vetting for each visa applicants who privation to travel to Harvard University, including visitors arsenic good arsenic students, according to an email obtained by CBS News.
In an interior email dated May 29 and sent by Secretary of State Marco Rubio's bureau to each U.S. diplomatic and consular posts, consular officers were told that this "additional vetting" applies to anyone wanting a visa to travel to Harvard for "any purpose." That includes existent oregon prospective students, faculty, employees, contractors, impermanent speakers and adjacent tourists, per the email.
The email told consular officers to "conduct a implicit screening of the online beingness of immoderate nonimmigrant visa applicant seeking to question to Harvard University for immoderate purpose." Officers should besides "consider whether the deficiency of immoderate online presence, oregon having societal media accounts restricted to "private" oregon with constricted visibility, whitethorn beryllium reflective of evasiveness and telephone into question the applicant's credibility."
The email said consular officers tin besides petition applicants to acceptable their societal media accounts to "public" for vetting purposes.
Notably, the email states that the caller vetting process for Harvard volition besides service arsenic a "pilot for expanded screening and vetting" of visa applicants "generally," including for pupil visas. The State Department "may denote akin measures for different groups of visa applicants arsenic appropriate, and successful accordance with U.S. law".
A State Department spokesperson confirmed to CBS News connected Monday the Trump medication has ordered "additional vetting of immoderate visa applicant traveling to Harvard University," with a extremity of identifying applicants "with histories of anti-Semitic harassment and violence." The spokesperson added the measures "may besides beryllium expanded to different groups of applicants, arsenic appropriate."
A root acquainted with the email who was granted anonymity to talk freely told CBS quality that it volition apt beryllium hard to instrumentality the vetting instructions uniformly crossed each US consular sections astir the world, and for each universities assuming this aviator process gets expanded to overseas applicants for different U.S. colleges.
Earlier this week, the State Department told embassies it was preparing for "expanded societal media vetting" of pupil visa applicants, according to a cablegram obtained by CBS News. The section ordered a halt to caller pupil visa appointments successful the interim.
"We instrumentality precise earnestly the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country, and we're going to proceed to bash that," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said successful effect to the visa assignment frost earlier this week.
The stricter vetting process present targeting America's starring planetary assemblage is the effect of 2 enforcement orders signed by President Trump: One that directed much vetting for visas, and 1 calling for a crackdown connected antisemitism, per the email. The State Department spokesperson said the schoolhouse has "failed to support a field situation escaped from unit and anti-Semitism."
The Trump medication has taken purpose astatine Harvard successful caller weeks, accusing it of failing to respond to what it views arsenic rampant antisemitic enactment connected campus.
Last week, the medication sought to instrumentality away Harvard's quality to enroll overseas students — a important menace for a schoolhouse wherever conscionable implicit 1 successful 4 students are international. The bid was blocked by a judge pursuing a suit from Harvard. The Trump medication has besides frozen national funding to the Ivy League school.
Meanwhile, the Trump medication tried to revoke the pupil visa presumption of thousands of planetary students, galore of whom appeared to gully the government's attraction owed to insignificant ineligible infractions. That argumentation was halted by a judge.
Rubio said Wednesday the State Department volition "aggressively revoke" visas for immoderate Chinese planetary students, including those studying successful "critical fields" and radical with links to the Chinese Communist Party. China's embassy successful the U.S. called the determination "politically motivated and discriminatory."
And immoderate planetary students who participated successful pro-Palestinian protests person faced detention, nether a instrumentality allowing the authorities to revoke visas for anyone deemed to airs "adverse overseas argumentation consequences."
When asked by reporters Friday whether helium supports planetary students studying successful the U.S., Mr. Trump said helium does: "We privation to person large students here, we conscionable don't privation students that are causing trouble."
"I don't deliberation Harvard's been acting precise nicely," Mr. Trump said, reiterating his telephone to redirect funds from Harvard to trade schools. "Harvard's trying to beryllium a large shot."
Camilla Schick is simply a British writer successful D.C. and CBS News' overseas affairs producer, covering U.S. overseas relations, the State Department and nationalist security.
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