On May 27, the Trump administration halted all new interviews for international students seeking visas to study in the United States as the State Department begins to expand social media screenings of applicants, a widely distributed internal cable on the matter says.
“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity,” the cable reads.
The cable also warned of “potentially significant implications for consular section operations, processes, and resource allocations,” indicating a delay is likely for student visa applications.
“Consular sections will need to take into consideration the workload and resource requirements of each case prior to scheduling them going forward,” the cable reads, adding that priority functions should focus on “services for U.S. citizens, immigrant visas, and fraud prevention.”
In recent weeks, the visas for thousands of students on American campuses have been revoked by the Trump administration, which seeks to protect Americans from immigrants who intend to commit terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, threaten national security, or spread hateful ideology.
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Meanwhile, the future remains murky for international students at Harvard after the Trump administration banned their enrollment starting next school year.
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Foreign student enrollment cap
On May 28, at the White House, president Trump said that Harvard University should place a cap of 15 percent on foreign student enrollment which would in turn provide more U.S. citizens the opportunity to attend the prestigious school.
“I think they [Harvard] should have a cap of maybe around 15 percent not 31 percent. We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can’t get in because we have foreign students there.”
The comments come as tensions between the university and the Trump administration surge. The White House recently moved to freeze Harvard’s funding and block its ability to enroll international students.
Currently, around 27 percent of students at Harvard come from another country, up from 19.6 percent in 2006, according to university data. Harvard says more than 10,000 people, including fellows and others coming for non-degree programs, and their families, are on campus from other countries.
“I want to make sure that the foreign students are people that can love our country,” Trump said.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said, “Harvard has got to behave themselves. Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper.”
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$100 million in federal contracts lost
Meanwhile, in another sign of rising tensions between the White House and Harvard, the Trump administration has asked a number of federal agencies to cancel contracts with the university worth around $100 million.
The government has already cancelled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants for the school.
Trump has blasted the school, claiming its campus is a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism.
Last month, the school filed a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s insistence that the university change its leadership, governance and admissions policies. Since then the White House has retaliated, slashing funding, moving to cut off enrollment of foreign students and even threatening to remove the school’s tax-exempt status.
So far, the White House has identified around 30 contracts across nine agencies that need to be reviewed for cancellation, The Independent reported.
A senior administration official says these contracts amount to around $100 million, and include executive training for Department of Homeland Security officials, research on health outcomes related to energy drinks and a contract for graduate student research services.
Trump has even threatened to take funding from Harvard and instead invest it in trade schools.
In a post to his social media platform, Truth Social, the President wrote, “I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land. What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!”
