WANA (May 31) – 15 Iranian students and researchers have filed a lawsuit against the administration of President Donald Trump, alleging the unlawful suspension of student visa interviews amid a sweeping policy to scrutinize applicants’ social media accounts.

 

According to The Verge, which reported the case on Friday local time, the lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Virginia against Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It argues that the suspension of visa interviews violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which prohibits arbitrary policymaking.

 

The report states that the lawsuit remains sealed for now. Curtis Morrison and Hamdi Mesri, attorneys representing the students, noted that since May 2019, the U.S. Department of State has required visa applicants to disclose their social media handles.

 

Mesri stated that visa applicants from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, are now subject to “extensive social media vetting.” He added that the Trump administration appeared to be trying to “ensure that incoming students align with its political values.”

According to The Verge, the plaintiffs in the case had been admitted to graduate programs at universities across the United States—including Yale, Ohio State University, and the University of South Florida— in fields such as computer science, engineering, finance, and other disciplines.

 

The attorneys noted that each student had already participated in a visa interview, yet all of their applications remain under “administrative processing for national security clearance.” Some interviews had taken place more than a year ago.

 

The report suggests that the freeze on student visa interviews is part of a broader, multi-pronged crackdown by the Trump administration on universities and international students.

 

Rubio recently announced that the State Department would expand its cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” particularly those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in strategically sensitive fields.

 

On May 22, DHS suspended Harvard University’s access to a federal database used to track foreign student enrollment, placing nearly 6,800 students at risk of immediate deportation until a federal judge intervened.

 

Rubio has also suspended the visas of international students participating in pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses.

 

Most recently, the State Department has begun restricting visas for foreign nationals deemed responsible for censoring protected speech in the United States.