State Dept. Tells Student Visa Applicants To Set Their Social Media Profiles To ‘Public’ If They Want To Come To The US
Way back in the day of EARLIER THIS YEAR, people could expect to be subjected to warrantless, invasive device searches only at US borders and international airports. Visa applicants, however, just needed to fill out some paperwork and wait for permission to head abroad to find work and/or continue their education.
Now, you don’t even have to enter the United States to be subjected to rigorous vetting that opens every digital drawer and roots around in your unmentionables/mentions. And pay no mind to Lady Liberty. She’s come a long way, baby.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right.
[…]
Under new guidance, we will conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications.
To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public.”
That’s from Marco Rubio’s State Department, an announcement that makes it clear Trump’s anti-migrant actions aren’t just about ejecting foreigners of the browner-skinned persuasion, but about preventing foreigners from setting foot in the US for any reason at all.
F, M, and J visas are all related to seeking higher education and/or learning trade skills. There’s no free riding here. These aren’t people sneaking across the borders and laying low until they secure permanent residence. These are people who are here for a single purpose and willing to pay for the (actual) privilege of accessing educational and trade services.
But this administration’s inherent xenophobia means even people seeking nothing more than temporary stays in the United States must be free from expressed thoughts that aren’t fiercely patriotic for a country they’re only seeking to visit.
The State Department is now in the business of rooting out wrong think, something it made clear a few months ago:
The cable… states that applicants can be denied a visa if their behavior or actions show they bear “a hostile attitude toward U.S. citizens or U.S. culture (including government, institutions, or founding principles).”
That’s why visa applicants are now “instructed” to set their social media profiles to “public.” “Instructed” is a heavy word. The federal government isn’t asking. This is a mandate. If you want to come to the United States, you have to subject yourself to a thorough vetting of your social media profiles by State Department staff, who will then subjectively decide whether or not you’re pro-America enough to be granted a visa.
It’s always been true that visas are a privilege and not a right. But it’s only since Trump’s been in office that the State Department has decided to be a hard-ass about it. Generally speaking, if someone meets the requirements, they get a visa. While some vetting does happen, it’s usually been done to prevent actual criminals or terrorists from entering the country. Now, it’s just something more the federal government can do to prevent foreigners from entering the country by treating anything not completely supportive of Trump as a reason to reject a visa application.
The United States was once proud of its melting pot status. Now, we’ve got more in common with the Confederacy than the Union that defeated it two decades before the Statue of Liberty was erected as a beacon of hope directed at the entire world.