U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Wednesday that effective immediately, it will begin reviewing applicants’ social media accounts, using antisemitic content as grounds for denying any immigration benefits.
The decision will impact those seeking to gain a green card or a student visa.
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) assistant secretary for public affairs, in a statement.
“Sec. [Kristi] Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here.”
The announcement comes after DHS and its component agencies have made a string of arrests of people who protested the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, while also stripping visas from students and faculty at universities across the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he has stripped student visas from at least 300 people, calling them “lunatics.”
The Trump administration has asserted those arrested have supported Hamas, but critics see it as a crackdown on free speech.
The announcement said DHS will focus on “those who support antisemitic terrorism, violent antisemitic ideologies and antisemitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah aka: ‘the Houthis.’”
Both Jewish and Islamic groups as well as free speech advocates bashed the plans.
“We already know that President Trump doesn’t shy away from breaking bread with and hiring antisemites. And he has already weaponized antisemitism to silence those he disagrees with and to strip funding from universities,” New Jewish Narrative said in a statement.
“Antisemitism is a real and very serious problem, but this is not the answer. Given Trump’s track record, we already know that this move is not genuinely about protecting American Jews.”
The Council on Islamic Relations said the Trump administration was “shredding the First Amendment” to benefit current Israeli leadership.
“The spirit of Joseph McCarthy is alive and well in the Trump administration, which has spent months dishonestly mischaracterizing legitimate criticism of the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza as antisemitic, pursuing witch hunts into American colleges, and threatening the free speech rights of immigrants,” it wrote.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) also described it as a crackdown on free speech.
“By surveilling visa and green card holders and targeting them based on nothing more than their protected expression, the administration trades America’s commitment to free and open discourse for fear and silence. Unfortunately, that chill appears to be the administration’s aim,” FIRE said.
Last week, the head of the Anti-Defamation League condemned the Trump administration for providing little due process as it arrests protestors.
“As even more detentions are taking place, critical questions must be answered. For instance, are these actions targeting constitutionally-protected speech or addressing genuine violations of law, like supporting a foreign terrorist organization? We don’t know the answer because we have not seen detailed explanations of the charges,” wrote Jonathan Greenblatt, the group’s CEO, in an essay.
“As we navigate this challenging moment, we must resist false choices. We can hold perpetrators of unlawful antisemitism accountable while maintaining a commitment to the Constitution. We can protect the civil liberties of Jewish students even as we preserve the civil liberties of those who protest, harass or attack them because they are innocent until proven guilty.”
Updated at 1:38 p.m. EDT
