DUBAI: The US State Department has ordered overseas officials to check the social media accounts of some student and exchange visa applicants in a bid to prevent critics of the US and Israel from entering the country, media reports said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a 1,700-word cable on March 25 titled “Request for Action: Enhanced Screening and Social Media Review of Visa Applicants.” It outlines the process that diplomatic service officers overseas must follow when reviewing applications for student and exchange visas.
The independent news site The Handbasket, which broke the story, reported that the cable instructed consular officers to refer certain applicants to the Fraud Prevention Unit for mandatory social media checks. The enhanced checks include those suspected of having terrorist ties or sympathies, those who held a student or exchange visa between October 7, 2023 and August 31, 2024, and those whose visas were cancelled after October 7, 2023.
A State Department official told the media that “it is clear that the immediate target is anyone who participated in pro-Palestinian protests — one of the reasons for the social media checks is being in the United States on one of these visas between October 7 and the end of August last year.”
The cable states that during the screening process, officers “MUST CONSIDER any derogatory information indicating that the visa applicant may fall within the terrorism-related grounds of inadmissibility under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” which includes “advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or support terrorist activity or to support a DESIGNATED FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”
It also contains some more general guidance. One section says that a student visa applicant does not have to express overt support for terrorist activity to be refused, as long as they demonstrate “a degree of public approval or public support for terrorist activity or a terrorist organization.”
This could include “conduct that is hostile to U.S. citizens or U.S. culture” or “promoting or sympathizing with foreign terrorist organizations.”
“All these questions may open up avenues of investigation regarding the applicant's reliability and the purpose of the trip,” the cable said.
A State Department official told The Handbasket that some of the directives are somewhat vague, perhaps intentionally so that they can be applied in any way necessary.
The cable also quoted Rubio from a March 16 interview with CBS: “We don't want people in our country who are going to commit crimes and undermine our national security or public safety. It's that simple. Especially people who are here as guests. That's what a visa is… That's a guest in our country. And if you violate the terms of your visit, you're leaving.”
Since taking office in January, Rubio has revoked at least 300 visas for students, visitors and others. He told the media last Thursday that he had been signing the letters every day. He declined to comment on how he came across the cases but said he had personally reviewed each one.
“If they take actions that are contrary to our national interests, our foreign policy, we will cancel the visa,” he said.
Rubio added that a visa holder who is convicted of committing a crime while in the U.S. should automatically lose their permission to stay in the U.S. Permanent residents or green card holders are not exempt from additional scrutiny and could also lose their status.
Last month, Rubio signed an order revoking the permanent resident status of Mahmoud Khalil of Syria and Yoon So-chung of South Korea, both of whom took part in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen, was seized from his home by immigration agents and taken to a detention center in Louisiana. Chang has been in the U.S. since he was seven years old.
