Fifteen Iranian students and researchers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for completely suspending student visa interviews while it assesses the need to scrutinize the social media accounts of all visa applicants.
The lawsuit, brought against Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a Virginia federal court, contends that the suspension of student visa interviews breaches the Administrative Procedures Act, which prohibits arbitrary regulatory actions. The details of the complaint are currently sealed.
In a statement, lawyers Curtis Morrison and Hamdi Masri highlighted that the State Department has mandated visa applicants to provide their social media handles since May 2019. According to Masri, applicants from specific Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, are already subjected to rigorous social media vetting. He expressed concern that Trump appears to be focused on ensuring that incoming students align with his political ideology.
The students and researchers named in the lawsuit have been accepted into various universities across the United States, such as Yale, Ohio State, and the University of South Florida, for graduate programs in fields like computer science, engineering, and finance. Their attorneys noted that all the plaintiffs had attended visa interviews, but their applications are currently stalled, pending national security evaluations. Some of these students were interviewed over a year ago.
The suspension of student visa interviews forms part of the Trump administration’s broader strategy against universities and international students. On Wednesday, Rubio announced that the State Department would collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to actively revoke visas from Chinese students, particularly those linked to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in sensitive areas. Additionally, on May 22, DHS rescinded Harvard’s access to a federal database tracking foreign student enrollment, potentially endangering nearly 6,800 students enrolled there until a federal judge intervened.
Rubio has also halted the visas of international students participating in pro-Palestine protests on campuses. More recently, the State Department has imposed visa restrictions on foreign individuals responsible for censoring protected speech in the United States, targeting enforcers of the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
