WASHINGTON: The US State Division ordered all its consular missions abroad to start extra vetting of visa candidates trying to journey to Harvard College for any function, in accordance with an inner cable seen by Reuters on Friday (Might 30), in a transfer that considerably expands President Donald Trump’s crackdown against the academic institution.
In a cable dated Might 30 and despatched to all US diplomatic and consular posts, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed the rapid begin of “extra vetting of any non-immigrant visa applicant searching for to journey to Harvard College for any function.”
Such candidates embody however should not restricted to potential college students, college students, college, workers, contractors, visitor audio system, and vacationers, the cable mentioned.
Harvard College failed to keep up “a campus atmosphere free from violence and anti-Semitism”, the cable mentioned, and that the improved vetting measures had been aimed toward serving to consular officers determine visa candidates “with histories of anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”
Whereas the US has beforehand required extra vetting of visa candidates from explicit international locations, making use of such procedures in opposition to Harvard seems to be an unprecedented use of the visa course of in opposition to a college that has fallen out of favor with the administration.
The extra measures for Harvard-linked candidates had been first reported by Fox Information, however the cable itself has not been beforehand reported.
The State Division doesn’t touch upon its inner paperwork or communications, a division spokesperson mentioned in an electronic mail when requested concerning the cable.
The Trump administration has launched a multifront assault on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college, freezing billions of {dollars} in grants and different funding, proposing to finish its tax-exempt standing and opening an investigation into whether or not it discriminated in opposition to white, Asian, male or straight workers or job candidates.
