By Sharon Zhang / Truthout
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it is monitoring immigrants’ social media accounts for supposed “antisemitism” — a seeming code word for speech criticizing Israel’s U.S.-backed occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the initiative in a press release on Wednesday, saying that it is denying applications of people seeking visas, green cards, or other immigration clearances if they are deemed to have “antisemitic activity” online, as well as if they supposedly participated in the “physical harassment of Jewish individuals.”
“This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity,” the agency said.
The press release makes it clear that the administration is targeting speech that favors certain “terrorist” groups fighting Israel over its genocide in Gaza, specifically naming Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Houthi movement.
The announcement comes as the Trump administration has been targeting and abducting students who have advocated for Palestinian rights, like Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk. Officials have also detained and deported U.S. citizens as part of President Donald Trump’s dictatorial deportation blitz.
According to a tracker by Inside Higher Ed, over 300 international students and recent graduates have had their visas revoked by the administration. Administration officials have outright said that they are going after those who have expressed speech criticizing the U.S. and Israel, or if they otherwise have a “hostile attitude” toward the U.S.
In a chilling statement, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin effectively said that the administration is carving out an exception to free speech rights to punish certain viewpoints.
Secretary of Homeland Security 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,” McLaughlin said.
Advocates for Palestinian rights noted that the clear goal of the administration is to suppress speech critical of Israel, as well as punish Muslim and Arab rights groups — similar to the implementation of the Patriot Act after 9/11.
“It doesn’t matter what you actually say. We are at the point where anything short of pledging allegiance to Israel is, in the eyes of the U.S. government and its many institutions, a criminal offense worthy of the infliction of state violence,” said media analyst Sana Saeed on social media.
Trump’s crackdown on free speech is empowering state officials to pursue similar campaigns. According to a tracker by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, 32 new bills seeking to quell or punish protests have been introduced in the 2.5 months since Trump’s inauguration, compared to 52 similar bills introduced in the entirety of last year.
The campaigns are an escalation of a decades-long push to outlawand criminalize advocacy for Palestinian rights, often with bipartisan support.
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Sharon Zhang
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found on Twitter: @zhang_sharon.
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