The Trump administration in the US has ordered its embassies abroad to temporarily stop new student visa applications. It is being told that the US is now going to start the process of in-depth investigation of the applicants' social media.
This has brought another twist in the dispute between the Trump administration and some American universities. Many American colleges depend on foreign students for funding.
While students with already scheduled appointments may proceed as planned, embassies have been directed to remove all unfilled appointments from their calendars.
The directive marks a further tightening of US immigration policy under Trump, who has previously taken aim at universities over campus protests against Isreal.
This order has come after the news of preparations to review the government funding received by Harvard University.
Earlier, the Trump administration decided to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students. Following Trump’s order, Harvard University condemned the decision as unlawful and unwarranted and said that the decision “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars.”
Preparations for major action against Harvard University
Actually, it is being said that the funds received by Harvard will either be stopped or it will be given to some other institution.
A senior White House official said, "The Government Services Agency (GSA) is going to send a letter to other agencies. In this letter, questions will be asked about the possibilities of terminating contracts with Harvard or giving them to some other institution."
The Trump administration estimates that about 30 such contracts are currently running with Harvard. All these contracts are worth a total of 100 million dollars.
Harvard University has not given any reaction to this.
Last week, the Trump administration had banned the admission of foreign students in Harvard. After this, Harvard had challenged this decision of the Trump administration in the court.
Prakash Kumar Pandey