Adding to growing fears of digital surveillance under the Trump administration, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will begin screening immigrants' social media accounts in an effort to uncover "antisemitic activity," the department explained.
The department will be on the hunt for content that appears to be "endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity," the order says. Under the new directive, evidence of such online activity, as well as physical harassment of Jewish citizens, determined by the USCIS and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), can be used as grounds for denying immigrant benefit requests.
In line with President Donald Trump's executive orders to tighten immigration enforcement and combat antisemitism, the DHS argues such surveillance will "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.'”
While reports of antisemitism have increased across the U.S., activists argue the policy is less of a protective measure and more of an opportunity to root out criticism of Israel's occupation and siege of Palestinian territories, as well as America's allegiance to the foreign power. Over the last month, several international students who have vocally supported Palestine were clandestinely arrested by immigration agents, including graduate students Rumeysa Öztürk, Ranjani Srinivasan, and Mahmoud Khalil. The latter is currently fighting his deportation in court and has become a symbol of the administration's crack down on Palestinian organizers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked hundreds of visas on such grounds, saying: "We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campus."
The latest policy applies to "lawful permanent resident status, foreign students, and aliens affiliated with educational institutions," providing legal protection to scour the profiles of international students and faculty despite a widespread outcry from free speech advocates across the political spectrum.
"The spirit of Joseph McCarthy is alive and well in the Trump administration, which has spent months dishonestly mischaracterizing legitimate criticism of the Israeli government's war crimes in Gaza as antisemitic, pursuing witch hunts into American colleges, and threatening the free speech rights of immigrants," said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in a statement to NPR.
In March, the administration announced it would begin reviewing social media profiles as part of the immigrant benefits request process, including applications for visas, naturalization, and relatives of people who have been granted asylum or refugee status. The decision was estimated to impact more than 3 million people.
Meanwhile, individuals entering the U.S. — citizen or otherwise — are increasingly on alert about securing their digital devices and online privacy in the face of increased electronic checks by federal immigration services on the border and at customs checkpoints.
