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Laura Loomer reveals 'dream job' in White House as Trump turbocharges war on Ivy League schools and migrants

Laura Loomer reveals 'dream job' in White House as Trump turbocharges war on Ivy League schools and migrants

Daily Mail​4 days ago

Far-right activist Laura Loomer has revealed her 'dream job' in Trump's White House - just as the administration escalates its crackdown on international students and elite universities.
Loomer's tweet came hours after an internal State Department cable revealed that the Trump administration has ordered a freeze on new student visa interviews in anticipation of expanded surveillance protocols.
The administration plans to implement sweeping new social media screening for all foreign students seeking to study in the US.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered American consulates worldwide to halt new visa appointments for student and exchange visitors 'effective immediately,' citing preparations for a major escalation in vetting.
It is part of a sweeping new offensive against both immigration and what President Trump calls 'radicalism in higher education.'
'Sounds like a dream job for me,' Loomer posted on X. 'I would love to research foreign students all day and find an excuse to block them from coming into our country based on their radicalism. Sign me up.'
The unprecedented crackdown on international student visas is part of Trump's broader campaign to, in his words, 'cleanse American universities of radicalism.'
Known for her inflammatory rhetoric and repeated bans from social media platforms, Loomer previously declared she would 'take a bullet' for Trump.
Now, she wants to be on the frontlines of his immigration dragnet, helping to keep out what she describes as 'radicals' from the world's universities.
The White House has not responded to questions about whether Loomer is being seriously considered for a role in the administration, but her public pitch has been widely circulated by supporters online - some of whom have urged Trump to appoint her as a 'foreign influence czar.'
'You were meant for this role!' wrote one of Loomer's supporters.
'What if we just ban foreigners from coming to this country?', suggested another.
'This is long overdue. If someone is posting hatred toward America, supporting terrorism, or promoting anti-Western ideology, they have no business setting foot on our soil. Not to study here. Not for any reason. Vetting social media is basic national security. We should be doing this for every visa applicant,' wrote a third.
The State Department's cable came just a day after the Trump administration ordered Harvard University to stop enrolling international students, a demand that was swiftly blocked by a federal judge after the school filed a lawsuit.
'I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15%, not 31%,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
'We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools. They can't get in because we have foreign students there.
Her public pitch has been widely circulated by supporters online - some of whom have urged Trump to appoint her as a 'foreign influence czar.'
'They're taking people from areas of the world that are very radicalized, and we don't want them making trouble in our country,' he added.
Harvard's president, Alan Garber, warned on Tuesday that elite universities should prepare for escalating federal pressure, as Trump's administration has already slashed over $2.6 billion in research grants and threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status.
The move was followed by another bombshell on Wednesday as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, particularly those studying in 'critical fields' or with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Trump administration's tightening grip on academia has sent universities scrambling.
Institutions like Northeastern University, which has over 20,000 international students, have set up 'contingency plans' to deal with delays or denials in student visas.
Meanwhile, advocacy groups like NAFSA: Association of International Educators are condemning the changes.
'International students are not a threat to this country. If anything, they're an incredible asset,' said CEO Fanta Aw.
'The idea that embassies have the time, the capacity, and taxpayer dollars are being spent this way is very problematic.'
The administration's proposed changes would require all student visa applicants to undergo extensive reviews of their social media profiles, a dramatic expansion of rules first enacted during Trump's first term.
While applicants have had to provide their social handles since 2019, the new plan would actively screen posts for signs of 'radicalism,' 'protest activity,' or connections to banned organizations.
So far, Meta, Google, and TikTok, whose platforms would be subject to scrutiny, have declined to comment.
Earlier this year, ICE arrested and tried to deport several international students who had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the Israel–Hamas war.
The administration then expanded the grounds for deportation based on 'threats to public order.'
Trump has painted elite universities, particularly Ivy League, as breeding grounds for what he calls 'anti-American extremism.'
Last week the Department of Homeland Security accused Harvard of 'coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party' and providing training to members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary group accused of human rights abuses.
Harvard denies the claims and has filed a lawsuit against the administration.

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Exclusive: US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance
Exclusive: US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance

The Guardian

time39 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Exclusive: US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance

Senior officials at the US Department of Veterans Affairs have ordered that VA physicians and scientists not publish in medical journals or speak with the public without first seeking clearance from political appointees of Donald Trump, the Guardian has learned. The edict, laid down in emails on Friday by Curt Cashour, the VA's assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, and John Bartrum, a senior adviser to VA secretary Doug Collins, came hours after the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective co-authored by two pulmonologists who work for the VA in Texas. 'We have guidance for this,' wrote Cashour, a former Republican congressional aide and campaign consultant, attaching the journal article. 'These people did not follow it.' The article warned that cancelled contracts, layoffs and a planned staff reduction of 80,000 employees in the nation's largest integrated healthcare system jeopardizes the health of a million veterans seeking help for conditions linked to toxic exposure – ranging from Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed cancer after being exposed to smoke from piles of flaming toxic waste. 'As pulmonologists in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), we have been seeing increasing numbers of veterans with chronic bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, and other respiratory conditions,' doctors Pavan Ganapathiraju and Rebecca Traylor wrote. The authors, who practice at the VA in Austin, Texas, noted that in 2022 Congress dramatically expanded the number of medical conditions presumed to be linked to military service. 'But legislation doesn't care for patients,' they wrote, 'people do'. The article sparked an immediate rebuke from President Trump's political appointees, according to internal emails obtained by the Guardian. 'We have noticed a number of academic articles and press articles recently,' Bartrum wrote, attaching a copy of the journal article. 'Please remind the field and academic community that they need to follow the VA policy.' Cashour, the assistant secretary, wrote that approval for publication in national media was delegated to his office. Local and regional directors were to inform Washington 'as soon as possible' when situations exist 'that have the potential for negative national exposure'. Multiple inquiries to Cashour and VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz went unanswered by deadline. Ganapathiraju told the Guardian that the article was in full compliance with the VA regulations, which state that employees are encouraged to publish in 'peer-reviewed, professional or scholarly journals'. Coordination with public affairs officers is encouraged, but not required, when sharing personal or academic opinions, the rules say. Ganapathiraju said neither he nor his co-author had yet faced punishment. 'We have received emails and messages from other VAs across the country (including doctors, department chiefs, chief of medicines, and chief of staff) supporting our article,' he wrote in an email. 'No communication from our local VA or from National.' Still, VA workers and veterans advocates say Friday's warnings fit a pattern of censorship by the Trump administration, which critics say is waging a 'war on science'. Since taking office, Trump administration officials have cancelled billions of dollars in grants funding medical research at the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation. Nearly 2,000 leading scientists, including dozens of Nobel Prize winners, signed an open letter released in April saying science was being 'decimated' by cuts to research and a growing 'climate of fear' that put independent research at risk. Trump issued an executive order on 23 May titled 'Restoring Gold Standard Science.' It accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of misusing scientific evidence when crafting policies on climate change, public health during the Covid-19 pandemic and other issues. Thousands of academics signed a new open letter that protested the move, arguing it opens the door to political interference. On 28 May, the secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said he was considering barring government scientists from publishing in top journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, and New England Journal of Medicine, calling these publications 'corrupt'. The Department of Veterans Affairs has long been one of the nation's most important centers of medical research. Funded by Congress with nearly $1bn annually, VA scientists operate at 102 research sites and are engaged in 7,300 ongoing projects, while publishing more than 10,000 papers in scientific journals last year. VA scientists invented the nicotine patch and the pacemaker and developed the CT scan. The agency runs the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which has pioneered mental health treatments that benefit not only veterans but also rape victims and other survivors of natural disasters and violent crime. Harold Kudler, a psychiatrist and researcher who served as national mental health policy lead for VA under the Obama and first Trump administrations said the rebuke to the pulmonologists' article was 'powerful in its impact and frightening in the threat it represents'. It was 'another attack on freedom of speech', he said. 'Veterans will suffer because of it. Plus, all research programs will take note.'

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