(NewsNation) — The additional vetting of the social media accounts of international students enrolled in or applying to American universities represents a new challenge to a population of foreign-born collegians already facing steep hurdles, according to law and educational experts NewsNation spoke with.
They argue the State Department’s order for U.S. embassies to halt student visa interviews and dig deeper into immigrants’ digital footprints adds an extra layer of anxiety for those hoping to further their education in the United States.
It could also take a deeper toll on higher education institutions as immigrants rethink their college futures elsewhere, Jennifer Behm, an immigration attorney and partner at Bernardi Immigration Law, told NewsNation.
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“These are people’s lives at stake here, and it’s hard to invest in your education in the United States when you have a system that may be working against you, and there are just so many unknown factors,” Behm said.
The challenge of international students finding their way
Under a rule invoked by the first Trump administration in 2019, student visa seekers are required to present five years’ worth of personal social media identifiers. This allows consular officers to screen applicants for potential security threats by cross-referencing other databases that raise concerns about a particular applicant.
The State Department, which did not respond to a request for comment from NewsNation, has not specified how the social media screenings will change. President Donald Trump told reporters that the additional scrutiny will help to weed out “troublemakers” who may not “love this country.”
However, the gray areas created by the new directive leave the students in the dark, Behm said. The uncertainty comes as the participation of international students in campus rallies protesting the Israel-Hamas war and other expressions of free speech has led to student visas being revoked and immigrants facing deportation.
“It feels like we’re trying to put lipstick on a pig here and pointing at a problem that may not be the actual problem,” Behm said.
However, the State Department cable that highlights international students has also placed universities facing uncertain financial futures in a precarious position.
Schools are already required to maintain a robust database of international students. Those databases include names, date of birth, country of birth, academic profile, enrollment status, disciplinary actions and a student’s work authorization upon graduation, Behm said.
Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary Of Education, speaks during opening ceremonies for the Third Anniversary Of Let’s Move! With First Lady Michelle Obama at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois on FEBRUARY 28, 2013. (Photo By Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Schools are required to report any changes to those statuses within 21 days, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses that information to monitor whether those changes flag a student for a possible change in their immigration status.
When those statuses change, the pathways to either coming to the United States to study or maintaining a student visa become even more difficult. But as the Trump administration continues to crack down on immigration with a renewed focus on international students, some insist this is all part of the president’s bigger plan.
“It’s incredibly troubling, and we’ve never seen anything like this in our nation’s history,” Arne Duncan, who served as U.S. secretary of education under President Barack Obama, told NewsNation. “You can listen to people’s words and rhetoric, but I try and watch people’s actions, and this is truly the opposite of making America great again.”
Advocates of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s plans, including a call for a crackdown on student visas among some Chinese students at Harvard, support the deeper levels of scrutiny international students face.
U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., called the plan “a step in the right direction” as it keeps students who support communist ideologies from entering the United States. Steube said he is not opposed to students from countries like Great Britain and Israel to study here but said others who represent a threat to national security should be shut out entirely.
” I think all of the student visas in this country should be examined,” Steube told NewsNation, specifically referencing students coming from countries with communist beliefs.
He said: “China’s the No. 1 national security threat to the United States, and so that’s certainly top of (the) list … but if it is a country that is a threat to the United States, those individuals should not be in our country.”
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Studies show international students, including those from China and India, brought an inflow of nearly $44 billion to the American economy during the 2023-24 academic year, which some higher education experts believe is enough to question the Trump administration’s motives.
Fanta Aw, the executive director and CEO of the Association of International Educators, characterized the State Department’s actions to freeze visa interviews as “another misguided and troubling attack on international students” that she fears will weaken the strength of higher education in the United States.
Aw called the additional student screening “a poor use of taxpayer dollars,” which is troublesome when business visitors and tourists visiting the U.S. are not subjected to the same background checks as international students seeking visas.
“Undermining (international students’) ability to study here is self-defeating,” Aw said. “With these actions, the United States will alienate the very minds that fuel its success.”
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The New York Times reported that Rubio issued a cable instructing consular officers to refer certain student and exchange visa applicants to the “fraud prevention unit” for a “mandatory social media check.”
Behm, the immigration attorney, believes that forcing universities to become “surrogate immigration agents and ideological gatekeepers” puts unnecessary pressure on institutions already facing threats should they challenge Trump’s policies on diversity, equity and inclusion and antisemitism.
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“If the administration believes enhanced scrutiny is necessary, it should be applied uniformly, not selectively, to students who have long contributed to American classrooms, communities, and cutting-edge research,” Aw said.
Behm insists that consular officials, already facing overwhelming workloads in vetting students, will become overtaxed. She fears that artificial intelligence could be added to the equation of determining whether a student poses a security threat, which would create more issues and uncertainty as “curveballs” are thrown at them by the Trump administration.
In response, Behm has instructed her clients considering traveling to the United States or those already here thinking about returning home for a summer break to stay put until further notice or until more specifics about the social media screenings are provided.
“(International students) have other options, and other countries offer immigration systems that feel a little more predictable, and they know what they’re getting into in terms of navigating that structure,” Behm said.
Duncan’s concerns extend beyond international students facing the increased attention from the Trump administration.
“It’s not just the brain drain of folks not coming from overseas,” Duncan told NewsNation. “We’re going to see more and more U.S.-born students choosing to go to college elsewhere because they don’t feel comfortable coming to American universities because of the instability, drama and chaos that Trump is inflicting on higher education and many other parts of our society, unfortunately.”
