68 h. ago US issues broad order to consulates to vet student visas over ‘terrorist activity’

State department shares new standard for denials based on social media posts, financial donations and membershipsThe United States has ordered consular offices to significantly expand their screening processes for student visa applicants, including through comprehensive social media investigations, to exclude people they deem to support terrorism.A state department cable from 25 March, obtained by the Guardian, describes a new standard for visa denials based on a broad definition of what constitutes support for “terrorist activity”. The directive states that “evidence that an applicant advocates for terrorist activity, or otherwise demonstrates a degree of public approval or public advocacy for terrorist activity or a terrorist organization” can be grounds for visa rejection. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Brian Kilmeade: ‘I don’t care’ if revoking student visas has ‘chilling effect on free speech’

‘I want chills to run down the spine of not only terrorists but of people that are residents here,’ Lawrence Jones added on Friday

Politics

5 d. ago Tensions bubble on elite college campus as students fume over Trump's free speech move

On the already tense Upper West Side campus, discomfort is simmering. After over a year of protests, the young students are incandescent with renewed rage.

Politics

1 week ago Moment Pakistani student, 31, prowls the streets for victims before raping two women just hours apart

Haider Ali, 31, raped the women just eight months after arriving from Pakistan on a student visa and has been handed a ten year prison sentence at Teesside Crown Court.

Events

2 w. ago Who is Mahmoud Khalil? The detained Columbia graduate praised as steady negotiator

Key figure in pro-Palestinian campus protests arrested by Ice known for kindness and skill for de-escalationMahmoud Khalil, the recent Columbia University graduate who was detained by Ice on Saturday night, was linked by Donald Trump, without evidence, to “pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity”. But for those who know him, Khalil was a student, a steady negotiator and a leader whose activism placed him at the center of a national movement for Palestinian solidarity.Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder who is currently in immigration detention in Louisiana, was a lead negotiator for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a role that thrust him into the spotlight during the pro-Palestinian encampment protests last spring – long before his high-profile arrest. He gained a reputation among fellow protesters as a principled and strategic organizer, earning praise for his ability to de-escalate tense situations. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump calls arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil ‘first of many to come’

President says in post his administration ‘will not tolerate’ actions of protesters at Columbia and other US universitiesDonald Trump said on Monday that the arrest of a prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests last year, is the “first arrest of many to come”.“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it,” the US president wrote in a post on Truth Social. Continue reading...

Politics