Federal immigration enforcement will begin screening non-citizens’ social media accounts for “antisemitic activity” as grounds for denying visa and green card applications, according to an April 9 announcement from the Department of Homeland Security.
The guidance is effective immediately for people applying for permanent resident status and non-citizen students “affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity,” according to the agency.
“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, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, in the announcement. “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 antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here.”
Any social media content supporting “antisemitic terrorist organizations” such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, will be considered a negative factor in agency evaluation of immigration benefits, according to the agency.
The new policy is consistent with a series of executive orders on immigration first issued in January.
“This is yet another dangerous attempt by the government to chill protected expression and weaken our country’s constitutional commitment to open discourse,” said Chloe Kempf, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, in an email. “The First Amendment protects everyone in the U.S. — regardless of citizenship — from being punished by the government for our political speech. We must all stand together and demand that our government stop targeting and silencing us, simply for speech it disagrees with.”
Ashkhen Kazaryan, fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum and senior legal fellow at the Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University, said “antisemitic activity” could easily be misconstrued to infringe on protected political speech.
“The government cannot lawfully punish a non-citizen for their speech simply because it is unpopular or politically sensitive,” Kazaryan said in an email. “However, in practice, immigration law gives federal agencies broad discretion and that creates a chilling effect even though non-citizens in the U.S. have the right to speak.”
