In the midst of a crackdown on illegal immigrants, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services on Wednesday announced that it will begin screening immigrants' social media for evidence of antisemitic activity, which may be used as grounds for denying immigration benefits requests.
According to the federal agency, the screening includes those applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and people associated with educational institutions linked to anti-Semitic activities. This policy will come into effect immediately.
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, "There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world's terrorist sympathisers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here," as quoted by AP.
The announcement comes after the Department of Homeland Security last month sent out a notice proposing to collect social media handles from people applying for benefits such as green cards or citizenship in order to comply with Trump's executive order.
The public and federal agencies were given until May 5 to respond.
The announcement being linked to cases involving highly publicised arrests and detentions of pro-Palestinian student activists, such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, who have been accused by the government of engaging in antisemitic activities, although their lawyer denies the charges.
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The notice of proposal has raised concerns among immigration and free speech advocates because it appears to extend the reach of the government라이브 바카라 social media surveillance to people who have already been vetted and are legally living in the U.S., not just those applying for entry into the country.
However, social media surveillance by immigration officials has been going on for more than a decade, dating back at least to the second Obama administration and accelerating during Trump라이브 바카라 first term, as per the reports.
Citing the agency, the Associated Press reported that it would consider social media content that “supports, endorses, promotes or endorses anti-Semitic terrorism, anti-Semitic terrorist organisations or other anti-Semitic activity” as a negative factor when deciding on immigration benefit requests.
When describing extremists and terrorist aliens, USCIS refers to those who support “anti-Jewish terrorism, violent anti-Semitic ideologies, and anti-Semitic terrorist organisations”. It names Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, AP reported.
