State Department gears up to increase social media screening for stude

The State Department is planning to bolster its efforts to vet and screen the social media of those applying for international student and exchange visitor visas to ensure applicants don’t pose a national security threat to the U.S., Fox News Digital has learned. 

To do this, the State Department is temporarily suspending new student and exchange visitor visa interviews as it evaluates enhanced social media screenings for the application process. 

The effort is the latest initiative from the Trump administration to crack down on immigration and revoke visas of those attending academic institutions in the U.S. Those who’ve publicly supported Palestine have faced increased scrutiny, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the administration was reviewing the visa status of students who participated in pro-Palestine protests. 

The Trump administration has accused students who’ve participated in these protests of supporting Hamas — a designated foreign terrorist organization. 

The State Department is currently examining existing operations that go into screening and vetting student and exchange visa applications, and “based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants,” according to a Tuesday email obtained by Fox News Digital. 

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As a result, the State Department is instructing consular sections to pause adding any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued, “in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting,” the email said. 

“The next step is for posts to evaluate operations and processes in preparation for this expanded social…