The latest in a conflict between the Trump administration and the Ivy League university, federal officials will begin searching social media accounts of visa applicants who intend to visit, work at, or study Harvard University for any indications of antisemitism.
The university was accused of failing to prevent violence and antisemitism on campus in a cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and sent on Friday.
According to the report, the screening process will assist consular officials in identifying candidates who have committed certain offenses in the past “and to duly consider their visa eligibility under U.S. immigration law.”
All U.S. embassies and consulates received the measure, which is effective right now. According to the cable, it will function as a pilot program that may be extended more widely.
The university was the first to publicly reject White House calls for reforms at prestigious universities that the administration has denounced as being rife with antisemitism and liberalism.
Since then, the oldest and richest institution in the country has been forced to self-fund a large portion of its research operations when the federal government withdrew $2.6 billion in federal grants. According to his statements, President Donald Trump intends to strip the university of its tax-exempt status.
After Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied Harvard permission to host international students on its Cambridge, Massachusetts campus, the university filed a lawsuit against the federal government last week. Since then, the motion has been stopped by a federal judge.
At Harvard’s Cambridge campus, international students make up over 25% of the student body. The majority, who come from over 100 countries, are graduate students.
The State Department said it was getting ready to increase the scrutiny of international students’ social media activity earlier this week, which caused it to postpone the scheduling of new visa interviews for those students who want to study in the United States. Whether or not that pause has been lifted is unknown.
The new law builds on the Trump administration’s introduction of social media account reviews for visa applicants. During the administration of former President Joe Biden, it stayed in place.
Read Also: Harvard Prohibited from Admitting Foreign Students Under Trump Rule
If a visa application has their social media accounts set to private or has no online presence, the measure directs officials to take notice of this as it “may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant’s credibility.”
“If you are not satisfied that the applicant credibility, and to your personal satisfaction, meets the standards required by the visa classification for which he is applying, refuse the applicant,” according to the cable.
According to the cable, officials have also been directed to carry out a more thorough investigation of the individual’s internet presence rather than merely looking through social media profiles.
