The Trump administration has ordered US consulates worldwide to conduct mandatory social media screening of every visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University, with officials instructed to view private accounts as potential signs of “evasiveness”.
It also comes as the administration has attempted to freeze visa interviews for all foreign students nationwide.
Consular officers must now refuse Harvard visa applications until fraud prevention units complete “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of applicants’ entire online presence.
The state department did not respond to a request for comment.
Since March, state department officials have conducted mandatory social media reviews of returning students, taking screenshots of “potentially derogatory” content for permanent records.
The Trump administration has mandated that all applicants for visas to Harvard University must undergo a social media screening at US consulates across the globe. Officials are to consider private accounts as possible indicators of “evasiveness.”.
All Harvard-bound students, faculty, staff, speakers, and other visitors must undergo immediate enhanced vetting, according to a state department cable signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and dated Friday. The Guardian was able to obtain this cable, which officials say is a pilot program that could be expanded to other universities. All American embassies and consulates are immediately subject to the policy.
The directive is the most recent attempt to single out the oldest university in the US for alleged inaction on antisemitism on campus and represents an unprecedented targeting of a single American institution. Additionally, it coincides with the administration’s attempt to halt visa interviews for all international students across the country. Politico reported the cable first.
Applications for Harvard visas must now be denied by consular officials until fraud prevention units have finished “comprehensive and thorough vetting” of applicants’ entire online presence. Additionally, officials are told that a limited online presence or private social media accounts could be interpreted as “reflective of evasiveness” that casts doubt on the applicant’s credibility.
Using data from the Department of Homeland Security, the cable specifically connects the increased screening to worries that “Harvard University failed to maintain a campus environment free from violence and antisemitism.”. Candidates with “histories of antisemitic harassment and violence” are to be identified.
A request for comment was not answered by the state department.
Described as an “unprecedented wave of vile antisemitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence,” the policy builds on Trump’s antisemitism executive order signed in January and linked to the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the ensuing lopsided war in Gaza that claimed over 50,000 lives.
The actions greatly intensify the current screening, which has mostly targeted students who took part in campus demonstrations in support of Palestine. Officials from the state department have been reviewing returning students’ social media accounts since March, taking screenshots of any “potentially derogatory” content for their records.
Over 300 visas were revoked in March, but Rubio told senators last week that his department has now revoked “probably in the thousands at this point.”. Higher education institutions already dealing with dwindling international enrollment face additional difficulties as a result of the visa restrictions.
The Harvard order is part of a larger campaign by the Trump administration against prestigious universities. The government has deprive Harvard of billions of dollars in research funding, filed a lawsuit against the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university, and temporarily barred it from accepting international students before a federal judge stopped the action.
Over 1 million international students study in the United States, supporting over 378,000 jobs and nearly $43 billion in economic activity, according to Nafsa. Visa processing may be significantly delayed throughout the industry as a result of the administration’s increased screening requirements.
The Harvard pilot “will be expanded over time,” according to the cable, and “other groups of visa applicants as appropriate” may be subject to similar enhanced vetting.
