Student Union
- By Setareh Derakhshesh
- Michael Lipin
US Reconsiders Student Visas to Relatives of Iranian Officials
The U.S. State Department is looking into complaints from Iranians who say they do not have the same access to U.S. student visas as family members of Iranian officials.
In an exclusive interview with VOA Persian at the State Department, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said Washington is reconsidering the student visas of family members of Iranian officials.
WATCH: Brian Hook Speaks to VOA Persian
Hook said the U.S. sees it unfair to other Iranians who are barred from entering the U.S. because Washington considers Iran an exporter of global terrorism. Iran is one of seven countries whose citizens are limited in travel to the U.S. after President Donald Trump declared an immigration ban last spring that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.
Students, however, have a special exemption from the travel ban — 12,783 Iranians studied in the U.S. in 2017 and 2018. But earlier this month, Iranian Twitter users complained about visas going to students who were related to Iranian officials while other applications languished.
In response, Hook posted a video on the U.S. State Department's Farsi Twitter account Dec. 11, raising the prospect of revoking U.S. visas issued to students related to Iranian leaders. Hook said the Trump administration was working to respond to questions from Iranian Twitter users.
"One of the consequences of [Iran's] being the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism in the world is that it causes the U.S. and other countries to have to impose visa restrictions," Hook told VOA Persian in an interview Dec. 13 that was broadcast Monday on VOA Persian's News at Nine program.
Tehran does not share "sufficient" information about Iranians who apply for U.S. visas, Hook said. Iranian authorities "know what they need to do [and] the behaviors that they need to change," he added. Hook said the Iranian government's behaviors are unfair to its citizens.
"The Iranian people understand that it is unfair for the regime to have its children here, and that same regime makes it very hard for its own people to get [U.S.] visas," he said.
Hook also repeated his assertion, made in the Dec. 11 Twitter video, that it is "hypocrisy" for the leaders of an Iranian government that encourages public chants of "Death to America" to also send their children to the U.S. for study purposes.
"These are some of the things that we are looking to change, in getting into a much better place for a better future with the Iranian people," Hook told VOA Persian.
Under the travel ban, U.S. officials said they would continue to issue visas to Iranian students, subject to enhanced screening and vetting requirements.
NBC report
U.S. TV network NBC reported earlier this month that families of Americans detained in Iran were urging U.S. authorities to deny visas to Iranian officials' children in order to pressure those officials into releasing the Americans.
NBC said the families provided the Trump administration and several U.S. lawmakers with a list of U.S.-based Iranian nationals alleged to be the children or relatives of senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani.
The NBC report said other people on the list included the son of Iranian Vice President for Family and Women's Affairs Masumeh Ebetekar, and the daughter of Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. The report said the list came from relatives of some of the four Americans and one U.S. legal resident being detained in Iran on espionage charges that those relatives and U.S. authorities have rejected as bogus.
In comments published last month by pro-Larijani Iranian news site Khabar Online, Ebetekar said the decision of many Iranians to study in America in past decades "does not necessarily denote an approval of the hegemonic nature of the U.S. and its administrative policies."
Most readers who commented on the article were unimpressed by the comment and viewed her son's study in the U.S. as contradicting her active role in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ruptured Iran's relations with Washington.
This article originated in VOA's Persian service.
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Trump administration opens antisemitism inquiries at 5 colleges, including Columbia and Berkeley
The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.
It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.
In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.
Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.
"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.
An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."
House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."
Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.
Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.
The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.
"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
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Read the full story here. (January 2025)
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British student talks about her culture shock in Ohio
A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.
Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.
Read the full story here. (December 2024)
