South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, Nov. 5, 2021 (Republican Jewish Coalition)
(JTA) — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Wednesday that it is now surveilling the social media of people applying to immigrate and international students for “antisemitic activity.”
The new policy will go into effect immediately, and any evidence of antisemitism or the “physical harassment of Jewish individuals” on social media could be used to reject applicants, according to the announcement from the Department of Homeland Security.
“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 DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. “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 United States has required visa applicants to share their social media handles since 2019, during the first Trump administration; the Obama administration had requested that information but did not make it mandatory. Many countries say they may scrutinize the social media accounts of potential immigrants.
The DHS press release said officials would be looking for content “endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity.”
It also said the new order would be enforced “to the maximum degree,” and that its purpose was “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.’”
The Homeland Security announcement comes amid a wide shakeup of immigration and border control practices since the Trump administration took office in January, and as the Trump administration pursues aggressive policy changes under the guise of combating antisemitism.
The effort has included a move to revoke the visas of international students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests on their campuses, and in some cases to detain and deport them. Jewish organizations have expressed concern about whether those efforts are happening in accordance with due process and civil liberties protections in U.S. law.
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