USCIS Announces That It Will Monitor Noncitizens’ Social Media for Antisemitism
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) [announced rgar it] will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity.
Consistent with President Trump’s executive orders on Combatting Anti-Semitism, Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism and Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats, DHS will enforce all relevant immigration laws to the maximum degree, to protect the homeland from extremists and terrorist aliens, including 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.’”
“J-Street, a Washington group which describes itself as pro-Israel, pro-peace and pro-democracy, was quick to disavow the new policy.
`The fight against antisemitism won’t be advanced by attacks on 250-year-old cherished American rights like free speech,’ said the group’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami.
`The Trump administration’s own appointees have social media accounts riddled with antisemitism, demonstrating how insincere they are in claiming their totalitarian attacks on higher education and immigrants will make Jewish Americans safer and that they are motivated by genuine concern for our wellbeing.'”
KJ