U.S. to Review Social Media Posts of Student and Scholar Visa Applicants
Applicants will be screened for perceived 'hostility' toward the United States, and they will be asked to make their social media accounts 'public' for the review, State Department officials said on Wednesday.
All applications for F, M and J nonimmigrant visas, which are for scholarly exchanges and research, will be reviewed, the officials said.
Consular officers at missions overseas are being told to look for 'any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.' The State Department did not provide further details on how officers would define that criteria.
The agency issued the guidelines after halting the processing of student and visiting scholar visas for nearly a month.
The new policy appears to be the latest prong in the Trump administration's broad assault on universities, which is focused on trying to tamp down liberal thought at the institutions. Some of President Trump's aides say American universities need to embrace more conservative ideas and people.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
44 minutes ago
- CBS News
Trump's envoy blames Hamas as Gaza ceasefire talks stall again, with Palestinian children "starving to death"
President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday the U.S. was cutting short the latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing home its negotiating team from Qatar for consultations, after he said Hamas had issued a response that "shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire." The talks have been bogged down over conflicting demands on terms to end the 21-month war. Hamas says it will only release all of the hostages still held in Gaza in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and an end to the war. Israel says it will not agree to end the war until Hamas frees the hostages, gives up power and disarms — a condition the U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group rejects. "While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith," Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said in a statement. "We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza." It was unclear what "alternative options" the U.S. was considering. The White House had no immediate comment, and the State Department did not immediately respond to messages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled the Israeli negotiating team to Israel in light of Hamas' response on Thursday morning. In a brief statement, the prime minister's office expressed its appreciation for the efforts of Witkoff and mediators Qatar and Egypt, but gave no further details. In a statement sent to CBS News on Thursday evening, a Hamas official said the group had "always behaved with high responsibility to conclude a comprehensive, viable and practical deal that can grant a permanent ceasefire and put an end to the suffering of our people, and I wonder how can someone consider this as selfishness." The official said he was "really surprised" by the "out of context statement by the U.S. envoy and the overarching attitude that reflects a preprepared, irresponsible and negative response" by the U.S. The official stressed that Hamas was "still involved in the ceasefire talks" and expected the mediators and the international community to "carry their responsibility" to alleviate the dire circumstances in Gaza. Earlier Thursday, an Israeli official had told The Associated Press that Hamas' latest response was "workable." Another official, with knowledge of the ceasefire talks, told the AP Hamas had submitted a "positive response" through Qatari mediators. Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and saw 251 others taken hostage. Most of the captives have been released or rescued, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says 50 remain in Gaza, including 20 still believed to be alive. The war has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. As Israel's blockade and military offensive in Gaza grinds on, four major news organizations said Thursday that their journalists in the Palestinian enclave were facing the threat of starvation. The joint statement by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and to allow adequate food supplies into the territory. The United Nations backed the call by the media organizations for Israel to let adequate food supplies into Gaza and allow journalists to enter and exit freely. U.N. staff in Gaza are hungry, too, deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday. People are starving "because we're just not getting in," he said, reiterating that obstacles imposed by Israel were inhibiting the delivery of U.N. aid. "If this does not get better soon and more aid goes through all the various checkpoints, people will die," Haq said. "We've been saying this for months, and now we're at the point where, in fact, people are dying." UNICEF, the U.N.'s Children's Fund, said in a statement on Thursday that 798 Palestinian civilians, including children, were killed near aid distribution sites in Gaza between May 27 and July 7 while seeking food. More than 100 people have died in Gaza from malnutrition since the war started, UNICEF said, and 80% were children. The charity said screening in the Palestinian enclave had found 6,000 children in a state of acute malnourishment in June alone, marking a 180% increase since February. "Children in the Gaza Strip are starving to death. Severe malnutrition is spreading among children faster than aid can reach them, and the world is watching it happen," UNICEF Regional Director for the Mideast Edouard Beigbeder said in the group's statement. Israel says it is allowing enough aid into Gaza and it blames U.N. agencies for failing to distribute it. But those agencies say it's nearly impossible to safely deliver aid because of Israeli restrictions and a breakdown of law and order in Gaza, with crowds of thousands swarming around food trucks as soon as they move into the territory. UNICEF said that From May 19 to July 2, an average of 30 U.N. aid trucks entered Gaza per day, compared to the average of 500 trucks per day that were entering before the wary. The charity said current food supplies in Gaza amounted to about 6% of the normal, pre-war levels. In greater numbers than ever, children hollowed up by hunger are overwhelming the Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza. Staff at the facility said five young children who died last weekend of malnutrition marked a change: they were the first deaths seen at the center in children who had no preexisting conditions. Symptoms are getting worse, with children too weak to cry or move, said Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutritionist. In past months, most children brought in malnourished improved with treatment, despite supply shortages, but now patients stay longer and don't get better, she said. The lack of basic health care and sanitation is also enabling deadly diseases to spread in Gaza, the charity OXFAM warned on Friday. "Water-borne diseases that are both preventable and readily treatable have increased by almost 150% inside Gaza over the past three months as Israel continues to deliberately block aid," the group said. "Available multi-agency health data shows that the numbers of Palestinians presenting to health facilities with acute watery diarrhea have increased by 150 percent, bloody diarrhea by 302 percent, and acute jaundice cases by 101 percent." OXFAM said the figures were likely "grossly under-reported because most of the two million people trapped by Israel's continuing siege have little access to the few healthcare facilities that have managed to keep operating."
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Why these two Asian neighbors just launched the world's latest armed conflict
At least 16 people have been killed in armed clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, as tensions over a century-old border dispute spiral into the worst fighting between the two Southeast Asian nations in over a decade. Since fighting began Thursday, the two sides have been progressively involving heavier weapons, including artillery and rocket systems, with clashes expanding to 12 locations from six. Both blame the other side for starting the conflict, which Thailand's acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, warned Friday 'could escalate into a state of war.' At least 14 civilians and one member of the military have been killed on the Thai side, the Thai health ministry said Friday, and more than 130,000 Thai residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters. Cambodia reported one civilian death in the border area. Thailand has accused Cambodia of deliberately targeting civilians, while Cambodia accuses Thailand of using widely prohibited cluster munitions. On Thursday, Thailand, which has a far superior military, used a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet to carry out an airstrike on a Cambodian military target. The U.S., a longtime treaty ally of Thailand, has called for an 'immediate cessation' of attacks. 'We are particularly alarmed by reports of harm to innocent civilians,' the State Department said Thursday. A simmering conflict The conflict has its roots in the disputed 500-mile border drawn largely by France, Cambodia's colonial ruler until 1953. Cambodia and Thailand have fought several deadly skirmishes since the border was delineated in 1907, particularly in the area surrounding the ancient 11th-century Hindu temple of Preah Vihear, which both sides claim as their own but was affirmed as Cambodian by the International Court of Justice in 1962 and again in 2013. Thailand rejects the court's jurisdiction. The temple's listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2008 prompted another flare-up. Tensions have been building again since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed after both sides opened fire in another contested area where the two meet with Laos, called the Emerald Triangle. Then on Wednesday, five Thai soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion along the border, which kicked off the latest clash. Cambodia denies placing landmines. A series of tit-for-tat moves followed, including both countries expelling each other's diplomats. 'The two sides are now at the point of almost no return,' Pou Sothirak, a former Cambodian ambassador to Japan and a Distinguished Senior Adviser to the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies in Phnom Penh, told NBC News. 'They've locked into this 'we're the victim and you're the aggressor' narrative,' he said. Political fallout The dispute has set off political turmoil in Thailand, where Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended early this month after an extraordinary leak of her phone call with Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for almost four decades as effectively a one-party state before handing power to his son Hun Manet two years ago. The father still maintains his grip over Cambodian affairs, which apparently prompted the call by Paetongtarn, 38, whose father, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was known to be close to the 72-year-old Hun Sen. She has said she was trying to defuse the border dispute in the call, during which she referred to Hun Sen as 'uncle.' The conversation, recorded and released by Hun Sen himself, prompted outrage in Thailand, where there was already widespread dissatisfaction with her handling of the border dispute. Paetongtarn also blasted a Thai army commander during the call, angering an institution that has frequently intervened in the country's politics, experts said. 'We have a situation today in which the Thai military is making its own foreign policy against Cambodia. The Thai civilian government has no control over the army at all,' said Paul Wesley Chambers, a visiting fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. 'It's free for all and really out of control,' he said of the situation this week, adding that the conflict could topple Phumtham as Thailand's acting prime minister. Cambodia said it had urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene in Thailand's 'unprovoked and premeditated military aggression.' Thailand says it wants to resolve the conflict bilaterally, but only after Cambodia ceases its attacks. Neighboring China has offered mediation, but it is seen as closer to the government in Phnom Penh than Bangkok. Negotiating an end is going to be a challenge for both sides, Pou said, as the Thai military's effective self-governance has created a diplomatic hole between Thailand and Cambodia, which in the past has undermined the possibility of a permanent end to the border dispute. 'The Thai military preemptively pressures conflicts,' he said.
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Elizabeth Shackelford: Burning down America's best tool for peace and prosperity
On July 11, the U.S. State Department imposed sweeping layoffs as part of a large-scale reorganization. Why should this matter to you? Violence is surging across the globe — 2024 saw the highest number of state-based armed conflicts in over 70 years. In our globalized world, instability affects us whether we like it or not. This means now is a very bad time to undermine our diplomatic capabilities, which is exactly what this will do. Diplomacy is our least expensive and least risky foreign policy tool, and the State Department leads it. Much like preventative health care, the more effectively we invest in it early on, the fewer costly and dangerous crises we face later. If we don't, we'll have to rely on riskier and costlier tools to defend our national security interests, such as economic coercion or military intervention. Because it's less visible, diplomacy is often underrated and overlooked. It's hard to take credit for the crises we avoid. But American diplomacy — backed up by our military might — is what kept us out of a hot war with the Soviet Union, has prevented war between China and Taiwan, and ended conflict between Egypt and Israel, to name a few. I've seen diplomacy mitigate conflict in places such as Kenya, Burundi and Somalia. As a former U.S. diplomat, I know that these sloppy cuts at State will cost us a lot. As the world moves undoubtedly into a more conflict-ridden future, we are undermining our own ability to navigate that world safely. Our military leaders have long understood this. As Gen. James Mattis said during testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services in 2013, 'If you don't fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition.' Effective diplomacy requires skilled diplomats and regional and subject matter experts. It relies on investment in the long game, building strong relationships and addressing underlying causes of conflict and instability. This administration is tossing that all aside with little concern for the consequences. No career civil servant would deny that the State Department could use serious, thoughtful reform. But this is not that. Like the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts that came before, the State Department 'reorganization' has been conducted with little appreciation or understanding of what it does, how it works and why it matters. This is no surprise given who was put in charge of it. Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old former DOGE staffer with no prior experience with the State Department or diplomacy, has taken the lead. He was promoted this month to undersecretary, the department's third-highest ranking. He's been assisted by Lew Olowski, an entry-level Foreign Service officer who was recently tapped to lead the human resources department, a position typically held by a long-serving member of the Senior Foreign Service. Their qualifying criteria apparently consist of being loyal to the administration of President Donald Trump and willing to break things. The result is costly and dangerous. Delaware Sen. Chris Coons highlighted some of the most egregious outcomes during a recent Senate hearing. While grilling the deputy secretary of state for management, Coons pointed out, 'You literally just fired department experts on nuclear proliferation, including experts with decades of expertise on Iran's nuclear weapons program, (on) ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine.' Other casualties included key parts of the counterterrorism bureau; the entire office for countering violent extremism; half of State's cybersecurity bureau (which had a leading role in countering China's cyberattacks); most of the office focused on science, technology cooperation and critical technologies, including artificial intelligence; much of the office addressing fraud prevention for visas and passports; and the offices focused on drug trafficking and energy diplomacy, both areas that the administration had specifically indicated were top priorities. Widespread cuts to the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) were met with shock, since it serves Americans directly and is self-funded through service fees. CA issues passports and visas and is responsible for the welfare of Americans abroad. The Office of Casualty Assistance, for example, assists victims of crime and terrorist attacks and helps repatriate bodies of Americans who die overseas. It was eliminated. I've made those heartbreaking calls to families to tell them a loved one has died. I've helped them navigate hospitals, criminal investigations, repatriation and grief — with critical support from Washington. You'll feel these cuts if you find yourself in trouble in a foreign country. I also know many people who were let go: experts with extensive language skills, knowledge and relationships cultivated over decades. These are taxpayer-funded investments that cannot be rebuilt overnight. Not that this administration intends to try. It ultimately plans to slash the State Department budget by almost half, to $28 billion. For comparison, Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' increased military spending to over $1 trillion, which is $156 billion more than the Department of Defense asked for. This means the U.S. military got a tip nearly six times the entire planned State Department budget. If you don't mind a future with more war, we can just keep buying more ammunition. But if you want a safer world, tell your government to invest in the tools of peace.
