US to screen social media of immigrants; rights advocates raise concerns
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The step will immediately affect those applying for lawful permanent resident status and foreign students.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS
WASHINGTON - The US government said on April 9 it will begin screening the social media of immigrants and visa applicants for what it called anti-Semitic activity, leading to swift condemnations from rights advocates, including some Jewish ones, who raised free speech and surveillance concerns.
President Donald Trump’s administration has attempted to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests over US ally Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ deadly October 2023 attack.
“Today, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin considering aliens’ anti-Semitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests,” said the Homeland Security Department agency.
The step will immediately affect those applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and those affiliated with educational institutions linked to anti-Semitic activity, it added.
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathisers.”
The Trump administration has often labelled pro-Palestinian voices as anti-Semitic and sympathetic to militant groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels, whom it designates as “terrorists”.
The administration is attempting to deport some foreign students, has revoked multiple visas and has warned universities of federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian protests.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration conflates their criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and support for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism and support for extremism.
Rights advocates and human rights experts have condemned the Trump administration, including its April 9 announcement which they say threatens free speech and is akin to surveillance and singling out of immigrants.
Free speech group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Fire) said the Trump administration was “formalising censorship practices”.
“By surveilling visa and green card holders and targeting them based on nothing more than their protected expression, the administration trades America’s commitment to free and open discourse for fear and silence,” Fire said. The Nexus Project, which fights anti-Semitism, said the Trump administration was going after immigrants in the name of tackling anti-Semitism and treating anti-Semitism as an imported problem.
Rights advocates have also raised concerns about Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias during the Israel-Gaza war. The Trump administration has not announced steps in response. REUTERS
