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Three major labor unions are suing the Trump administration for “using the threat of immigration enforcement to suppress dissent” by combing through social media posts looking for content they deem objectionable and publicly threatening “to surveil and punish lawfully present noncitizens for speech documented online.”
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), Communications Workers of America (CWA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) allege that US agencies are “deploying a vast surveillance apparatus” to find people criticizing the Trump administration and its allies online, “with a particular focus on US-based visa holders and Lawful Permanent Residents with university affiliations.”
The State Department announced in June that it would be reviewing the “online presence” of students applying for visa categories F, M, and J as part of the screening and vetting process. More recently, the agency revoked the visas of six foreign nationals over comments they made on social media about the death of conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk.
“The United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country, commit acts of anti-American, pro-terrorist, and antisemitic hate, or incite violence,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott tweeted in response. “We will continue to revoke the visas of those who put the safety of our citizens at risk.”
One of the objectionable tweets cited by State was a South African who said Kirk “won’t be remembered as a hero. He was used to astroturf a movement of white nationalist trailer trash!” Another called Kirk a fascist.
The unions argue the move is “suppressing the speech of thousands of US-based visa holders,” who are now erasing social media and other online posts to avoid retaliation from US officials.
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They represent “thousands of people whose speech is chilled by the threat of adverse immigration action if the government disapproves of anything they have expressed or will express,” the suit says. “Many of [unions’] members no longer express views remotely related to the topics the government disfavors, especially online where the government is watching, because the government has promised and proven that saying the wrong thing can trigger life-altering immigration consequences.”
Earlier this year, the State Department announced a “Catch and Revoke” program, under which the US would revoke the visas of those caught “breaking our laws.” That’s not surprising, but it also threatens visa holders who have “otherwise abused our hospitality,” according to an April memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It doesn’t go into detail about what that means, but Rubio wrote about it in the context of the October 2023 attack on Israel, and characterized those who protested the subsequent bombing of Gaza on US college campuses as “violent thugs.”
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According to Axios, the Catch-and-Revoke efforts “includes AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts, [which is] a dramatic escalation in the U.S. government’s policing of foreign nationals’ conduct and speech.”
The unions are asking the court to find this program and threats from public officials like Rubio and President Trump to be unconstitutional and/or unlawful because they violate the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act, among other relief.
“This suit exposes the online surveillance tools and other cyber tactics never envisioned by the founders to enforce compliance with the administration’s views,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement.
“The Trump administration’s use of surveillance to track and intimidate UAW members is a direct assault on the First Amendment—and an attack on every working person in this country,” added UAW President Shawn Fain. “When they spy on, silence, and fire union members for speaking out, they’re not just targeting individuals—they’re targeting the very idea of freedom itself. The right to protest, to organize, to speak without fear—that’s the foundation of American democracy. If they can come for UAW members at our worksites, they can come for any one of us tomorrow. And we will not stand by and let that happen.”
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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.
I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.
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