WASHINGTON — The State Department has begun stepped-up vetting of all foreigners seeking visas to visit Harvard University amid the Trump administration’s ongoing legal war with the Ivy League school.
US embassies and consulates were instructed in a diplomatic cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately begin additional vetting” on Harvard-associated visas “for any purpose,” CNN and Reuters reported.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed in a Thursday press briefing that an earlier cable announcing the move contained “details that are accurate.”
“Of course, everyone is vetted,” she told reporters. “This is an overarching national security action, and we are acting quickly. Obviously, we’re a nation that loves people coming here the legal way, and we want to help facilitate that but not at our own risk.”
The Friday cable was quoted as stating: “Such applicants include, but are not limited to prospective students, students, faculty, employees, contractors, guest speakers, and tourists.”
Consular officers were also directed to look over applicants’ social media presence and take note of those with “private” profiles or whose “lack of any online presence” could “be reflective of evasiveness” — or “activities inconsistent” with the temporary legal status they’re seeking.
“Those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security,” Rubio said in March when the State Department revoked its first foreign student visa. “The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists.”
That visa belonged to Columbia University Apartheid Divest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who also happened to be married to a US citizen and a green-card holder, setting up a protracted legal battle with the Trump administration.
Both the visa and green card were rescinded, but Khalil’s case has become a rallying point for critics of the Republican admin.
The ex-Columbia grad student is currently being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a Louisiana facility as he lobbies for asylum before a federal immigration judge.
Rubio had sent a cable Tuesday ordering a pause on foreign student visa handouts and indicated new applicants’ social networking accounts would have to be put under review.
As of Thursday, a senior State Department official told The Post, that review was to expand beyond the F-1 visas for international students to those traveling to Harvard on business (B-1) or as tourists (B-2).
Rubio has also moved to revoke visas for foreign government officials or individuals seeking to censor Americans — and he’s put all Chinese students submitting applications on notice.
“The United States is putting America first by beginning to revoke visas of Chinese students as warranted, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” Bruce said Thursday, “or studying in critical fields, and enhancing scrutiny of visas for all Chinese nationals, including Hong Kong passport holders.”
The Department of Homeland Security last week tried to revoke certification for nearly 7,000 international students based on the “pro-terrorist conduct” allowed at Harvard campus demonstrations opposing Israel’s war in Gaza.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also called attention to concerning research collaborations with institutions investigated by Congress for their ties to the Chinese military.
A federal judge in Boston blocked DHS on Thursday from moving forward with the revocation, permitting the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for the Ivy League Institution — which enrolls more than one-quarter of its student population — to continue for now.
Noem had also previously sought criminal records for all students admitted under SEVP, but said Harvard administrators had refused to comply.
Reps for the university have declared DHS’ actions “unlawful.”
The State Department declined to comment on Friday’s cable.
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