Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the administration was reviewing the visa status of students who participated in pro-Palestine protests. (Jose Luis Magana/The Associated Press )
As a result, the State Department is instructing consular sections to pause adding any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued, "in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting," the email said.
"The next step is for posts to evaluate operations and processes in preparation for this expanded social media vetting of all student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants," said the email.
"Appointments already scheduled can proceed under current guidelines," the email said. "However, appointments that are available, but not taken as of the release of this cable, should be immediately removed from availability."
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Democrats have said that the Trump administration's effort to revoke visas is a violation of due process. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
The State Department’s effort aligns with executive orders that Trump signed in January to protect the U.S. from foreign terrorists and other national security threats, as well as one that aims to combat antisemitism, a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital.
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One of the executive orders instructs the State Department, as well as the Department of Homeland Security, the attorney general, and the director of national intelligence, to "vet and screen to the maximum degree possible all aliens who intend to be admitted, enter, or are already inside the United States, particularly those aliens coming from regions or nations with identified security risks."
Additionally, the other executive order states that the U.S. will use "all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence."
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-department-ramp-up-screening-social-media-vetting-student-visa-applicants-interviews-paused