On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the department isn’t doing anything new with visa holders and isn’t just looking at Chinese students and “whether you are a Chinese student or a student from Europe or you’re a tourist, you’ve come in, or you’re coming here to work or any other reason why you need a visa, this is a dynamic that we’re looking at, and if there [are] elements involved in someone’s behavior or associations that we deem to be a problem for our national security or our foreign policy objectives, then we’re going to take action. But this is a review, and it is something that happens to everyone who has a visa. It is not unusual. And this is what America has always done.”
Co-host Aishah Hasnie asked, “[S]ome Chinese students, apparently, are going out there and saying, this is why I left China in the first place. I wanted freedom, and now this is what the U.S. is doing to me. So, what’s your response to that?”
Bruce responded, “Well, look, what’s happening here is not new. It’s not just for Chinese students. This is about the visa process, that if you’re a visitor in this country, you had to get a visa to be here to be a student or to work or any other number of reasons. And everyone is vetted. No one gets a pass, no one has handed it to them without being looked at or vetted or questioned. This is the normal process. And what’s, I think, surprising for people is the fact that getting the visa is one thing, but we don’t then stop looking at you when you’re here when you’re on a visa. This is not a right. It’s a privilege. You come here, you tell us things, you’re going to school or you’re working, but we have a constant responsibility, for the American people, on a national security aspect, to make sure how things are with you while you’re visiting this country on a visa. So, whether you are a Chinese student or a student from Europe or you’re a tourist, you’ve come in, or you’re coming here to work or any other reason why you need a visa, this is a dynamic that we’re looking at, and if there [are] elements involved in someone’s behavior or associations that we deem to be a problem for our national security or our foreign policy objectives, then we’re going to take action. But this is a review, and it is something that happens to everyone who has a visa. It is not unusual. And this is what America has always done. We’re also ramping it up, if you will, if there were some elements or areas that weren’t doing it, they’re going to be doing it now more efficiently.”
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