WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued instructions to increase the scrutiny of visa applications submitted by foreign students as a campaign against the individuals criticising the US and Israel has been intensified.
A letter sent on March 25 to the relevant department instructs the officials that applicants’ social media content will be examined to ensure that those who criticize the US or Israel are not granted visas.
This move comes after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to deport foreign nationals who speak against the US or Israel.
The new directive states that visa applications from individuals who applied between October 7, 2023, and August 31, 2024, or whose visa expired in October 2023, will be scrutinised.
This decision could affect foreign students and individuals who have shared posts in support of Palestinians during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza.
Recently, last month Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national student at Tufts University, was forcibly taken into custody by federal agents in broad daylight near her Massachusetts home. The US Immigration officials also revoked her visa.
The arrest came a year after she co-authored an opinion piece in Tufts’ student newspaper hitting out at the university for its response to calls by students to disassociate from the Israel-linked companies and to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide”.
