Student visa pause ‘extraordinarily disturbing': Arne Duncan
After ordering U.S. embassies and consulates to stop scheduling student visa interviews for international students, the Trump administration is also weighing putting a 15 percent cap on the enrollment of international students.
A U.S. official said the halt is temporary.
The State Department is also weighing the expansion of 'social media screening and vetting' for applicants.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, President Trump said the expansive screening would determine if foreign students were 'troublemakers' and wants to ensure that any admitted students are those who 'love our country.'
In an exclusive interview with NewsNation, former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who served under former President Obama, said the administration's move was the opposite of its 'Make America Great Again' slogan.
'We attract the best and brightest students from around the world, and we only help ourselves,' Duncan said. 'These are future innovators, job creators, entrepreneurs.'
He added, 'These are researchers who can help us find the next cure for cancer, and to lose their talent and expertise is extraordinarily disturbing.'
The former Education chief also noted that it puts the country in a 'very bad position,' and even though it is a temporary decision, it could leave a 'chilling effect' on the U.S. that could last for a long time.
He said it could deter international students and even U.S.-born students from applying to certain colleges.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hazy outlook: Smoke, dust likely to impact US skies this weekend
Noxious wildfire smoke from Canada will infiltrate the U.S. through the north this weekend, just as African dust clouds approach from the east. They have nothing to do with the Trump tariffs and might not be as ominous as it sounds, but their presence will be noticeable. Meteorologists are especially keeping track of the smoke, emanating from wildfires in Canadian territory from British Columbia to Manitoba, which have the potential to cause health problems in American soil. Smoke has already been detected drifting in through Montana, North Dakota and northern Minnesota, where air quality alerts have been issued. The smoke is expected to spread across the upper Midwest on Friday and Saturday before heading southeast, where cloud cover would minimize its impact. While not on the same scale as the spring and summer of 2023, when 800-plus Canadian wildfires burned more than 40 million acres and blanketed large swaths of the U.S. Midwest and East with a gray haze, the current spate of approximately 150 blazes will have an extended impact across the border as the wind blows southeast. Major population areas in and around Chicago and Milwaukee will likely be in the smoke's path, and possibly Detroit and Indianapolis as well. 'We will see more smoke across parts of the Midwest, even down into portions of the Ohio Valley by Sunday,'' AccuWeather meteorologist Elizabeth Danco said. 'We are expecting some of it to get down into some of the lower levels of the atmosphere, which could cause some reduced air quality and some health hazards, especially for those with respiratory issues.'' How acute those become could be determined by the smoke's elevation in the atmosphere. At lower levels it can not only cause breathing difficulties but also impair driving visibility. When remaining high, the haze actually leads to vibrant sunrises and sunsets. That same phenomenon may be on display with the appearance of the Saharan dust clouds, which are fairly common this time of year. The first of two large ones is primed to arrive this weekend and is aiming for Florida and the Gulf Coast, in addition to the Caribbean, parts of Mexico and most of Central America, AccuWeather said. The second one is even bigger and will likely cover all of Florida and most of the gulf by Thursday morning, according to the outlet. Danco said neither one figures to present a health threat or affect air quality because they will mostly remain at high levels in the atmosphere. Dust clouds can actually have the beneficial effect of inhibiting storm formation or development because they carry such dry air, the opposite of what nourishes weather systems like hurricanes. In addition, the hazy skies they create can be quite vibrant as the sun rises and sets. 'They have a nice orange hue to them,'' Danco said. 'It's really cool to see the sky. There should be some good pictures coming out.'' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hazy outlook: Smoke, dust likely to impact US skies this weekend
Newsweek
24 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Lashes Out Over Tariff Blocks: 'Economic Survival'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Donald Trump has lashed out at critics of his sweeping international tariffs, saying the United States needs them for its "economic survival." Writing on Truth Social on Monday, the president said: "If other Countries are allowed to use Tariffs against us, and we're not allowed to counter them, quickly and nimbly, with Tariffs against them, our Country doesn't have, even a small chance, of Economic survival." In a separate post, he said: "Because of Tariffs, our Economy is BOOMING!" President Donald Trump speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews last week. President Donald Trump speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews last week. AP It comes after the Trump administration asked a U.S. appeals court on Monday for a pause in a court ruling challenging his tariffs. Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs were first declared illegal by the Manhattan-based U.S. Court of International Trade on May 28. The next day, a federal court in Washington, D.C. found that the tariffs exceeded the president's authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump won a temporary pause on the first court ruling, allowing him to reinstate tariffs, and the court is set to rule on a longer-term pause later this month, Reuters reported. This is a breaking story. More to follow.
New York Post
35 minutes ago
- New York Post
Russia sets out punitive terms at peace talks with Ukraine
Russia told Ukraine at peace talks on Monday that it would only agree to end the war if Kyiv gives up big new chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army, according to a memorandum reported by Russian media. The terms, formally presented at negotiations in Istanbul, highlighted Moscow's refusal to compromise on its longstanding war goals despite calls by US President Donald Trump to end the 'bloodbath' in Ukraine. Ukraine has repeatedly rejected the Russian conditions as tantamount to surrender. 6 The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, members of Ukrainian and Russian delegations, attend peace talks presided over by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (center) on June 2, 2025, at Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. Getty Images Delegations from the warring sides met for barely an hour, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. They agreed to exchange more prisoners of war – focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded – and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky for a meeting in Turkey with Trump. But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and Washington have all urged Russia to accept. Moscow says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Kyiv says Putin is not interested in peace. Trump has said the United States is ready to walk away from its mediation efforts unless the two sides demonstrate progress towards a deal. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Kyiv's delegation, said Kyiv – which has drawn up its own peace roadmap – would review the Russian document, on which he offered no immediate comment. 6 Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in Moscow, Russia, on June 2, 2025. via REUTERS Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June, but believes only a meeting between Zelensky and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said. Zelensky said Ukraine presented a list of 400 children it says have been abducted to Russia, but that the Russian delegation agreed to work on returning only 10 of them. Russia says the children were moved from war zones to protect them. RUSSIAN DEMANDS The Russian memorandum, which was published by the Interfax news agency, said a settlement of the war would require international recognition of Crimea – a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 – and four other regions of Ukraine that Moscow has claimed as its own territory. Ukraine would have to withdraw its forces from all of them. 6 Tupolev Tu-22 aircraft with objects on their wings at Olenya Airbase in the Murmansk region, Russia on May 23, 2025. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies/AFP via Getty Images It restated Moscow's demands that Ukraine become a neutral country – ruling out membership of NATO – and that it protect the rights of Russian speakers, make Russian an official language and enact a legal ban on glorification of Nazism. Ukraine rejects the Nazi charge as absurd and denies discriminating against Russian speakers. Russia also formalised its terms for any ceasefire en route to a peace settlement, presenting two options that both appeared to be non-starters for Ukraine. Option one, according to the text, was for Ukraine to start a full military withdrawal from the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Of those, Russia fully controls the first but holds only about 70% of the rest. 6 A view shows a destroyed car and buildings damaged by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, June 3, 2025. REUTERS Option two was a package that would require Ukraine to cease military redeployments and accept a halt to foreign provision of military aid, satellite communications and intelligence. Kyiv would also have to lift martial law and hold presidential and parliamentary elections within 100 days. Russian delegation head Vladimir Medinsky said Moscow had also suggested a 'specific ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front' so that the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected. According to a proposed roadmap drawn up by Ukraine, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, Kyiv wants no restrictions on its military strength after any peace deal, no international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow's forces, and reparations. UKRAINE TARGETS RUSSIAN BOMBER FLEET The conflict has been heating up, with Russia launching its biggest drone attacks of the war and advancing on the battlefield in May at its fastest rate in six months. 6 A serviceman from the mobile air defence unit of the 115th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fires a Browning machine gun towards a Russian drone during an overnight shift, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv Region, Ukraine, on June 2, 2025. REUTERS On Sunday, Ukraine said it launched 117 drones in an operation codenamed 'Spider's Web' to attack Russian nuclear-capable long-range bomber planes at airfields in Siberia and the far north of the country. Satellite imagery suggested the attacks had caused substantial damage, although the two sides gave conflicting accounts of the extent of it. Western military analysts described the strikes, thousands of miles from the front lines, as one of the most audacious Ukrainian operations of the war. Russia's strategic bomber fleet forms part of the 'triad' of forces – along with missiles launched from the ground or from submarines – that make up the country's nuclear arsenal, the biggest in the world. Faced with repeated warnings from Putin of Russia's nuclear might, the US and its allies have been wary throughout the Ukraine conflict of the risk that it could spiral into World War Three. 6 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a press conference on the day of the NATO Bucharest Nine (B9) meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on June 2, 2025. REUTERS A current US administration official said Trump and the White House were not notified before the attack. A former administration official said Ukraine, for operational security reasons, regularly does not disclose to Washington its plans for such actions. A UK government official said the British government also was not told ahead of time. Zelensky said the operation, which involved drones concealed inside wooden sheds, had helped to restore partners' confidence that Ukraine is able to continue waging the war. 'Ukraine says that we are not going to surrender and are not going to give in to any ultimatums,' he told an online news briefing. 'But we do not want to fight, we do not want to demonstrate our strength – we demonstrate it because the enemy does not want to stop.'
