State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said Thursday that the increased scrutiny the Trump administration has imposed on foreign student visas is a process that continues throughout the course of foreign students studying domestically, rather than a “one-time” check.
Bruce was plagued by questions at a briefing at a press conference on Thursday about the Trump administration's plans to increase screenings for foreign students. The briefing came amid the news that the Trump administration has suspended the appointment of new student visas at embassies around the world. The Trump administration has also planned this week to “actively” cancel visas for Chinese students, which pose a national security threat, and to carry out an expanded social media review of foreign student visas.
“Everyone on a visa must realize that America takes visas seriously and that reviews are not a one-off process. “If things happen, if they're arrested, if there's any issues, you'll probably see them at some point,” Bruce added.
The State Department is currently scrutinizing all visa holders related to Harvard.
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce will speak at the State Department's Publishing Bureau in April. (State Department)
“I'm interested in making sure that people here from China on Visa understand that we take national security seriously,” she continued. “And if everything goes well, it's certainly going to continue and it's a critical judging.”
Citing national security concerns, Bruce did not reveal many details about what a new scrutiny of foreign students would look like. However, she told reporters that the student visa interview would likely resume “quickly” and “quickly” after a formal process has been agreed.
As part of President Donald Trump's “America First” agenda, Bruce aims to scrutinize new student visas to reduce suspicion of political indoctrination on campus and to ensure that American students can receive the highest quality education possible without interference.
Trump has accused Harvard of being “very late.”
Columbia University is at the epicenter of a debate over whether the university's campus has been taken over by political indoctrination. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah, left, Reuters/David Dee Delgado, right.)
“There's a reason people come here. It's because of what the country represents. Yes, it's the excellence of our school. And we want to keep it that way,” Bruce told reporters Thursday.
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“We want our children to be able to recognize that they can send their children to American universities, whether in another country or at an American university… Knowing that anyone who wants to send their children to school in this country is safe, they can enter the building, they can enter the building, they can either have hostages in the library or actually learn it.”
