By State Dept. Intends to Use AI to Revoke Visas of “Pro-Hamas” Foreign Students
Editor's CommentA dangerous precedent is being set by the Trump administration as it attempts to use AI to target and remove foreign students critical of Israel. How long before this is used to silence, detain, and/or deport those critical of U.S. policies under Trump’s presidency or future administrations? AI may have some good uses, but it is increasingly being used as a tool of surveillance by governments and their Big Tech partners. The story below highlights why this matters.
Editor's Comment
A dangerous precedent is being set by the Trump administration as it attempts to use AI to target and remove foreign students critical of Israel. How long before this is used to silence, detain, and/or deport those critical of U.S. policies under Trump’s presidency or future administrations? AI may have some good uses, but it is increasingly being used as a tool of surveillance by governments and their Big Tech partners. The story below highlights why this matters.
by Marc Caputo | Axios
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an AI-fueled “Catch and Revoke” effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups, senior State Department officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: The effort — which includes AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts — marks a dramatic escalation in the U.S. government’s policing of foreign nationals’ conduct and speech.
- The reviews of social media accounts are particularly looking for evidence of alleged terrorist sympathies expressed after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, officials say.
Officials plan to examine internal databases to see whether any visa holders were arrested but allowed to stay in the country during the Biden administration.
- They say they’re also checking news reports of anti-Israel demonstrations and Jewish students’ lawsuits that highlight foreign nationals allegedly engaged in antisemitic activity without consequence.
- The State Department is working with the departments of Justice and Homeland Security in what one senior State official called a “whole of government and whole of authority approach.”
