The Trump administration is now going to screen immigrants’ social media as grounds for denying immigration benefits, including international students and people applying for permanent residency.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the move in a press release Wednesday afternoon, saying that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would be taking action, effective immediately, against “antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals.”
“DHS will enforce all relevant immigration laws to the maximum degree, 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 statement read.
The move follows the visa revocations and detention of students who have advocated for Palestine, such as Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, as well as the arrest and detention of Columbia University graduate and permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil. In both cases, the government made no indication that it has followed due process, and the two are not alone: Secretary of State Marco Rubio claims to have revoked the visas of over 300 students before Wednesday’s announcement.
Now, DHS will begin policing the opinions of anyone seeking to study in the United States, ostensibly on grounds of opposing “antisemitic terrorism.” In reality, there is no proof that Khalil, Öztürk, and many other targeted students engaged in terrorism. Rather, the Trump administration has redefined terrorism to mean opposition of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza and support for Palestinian self-determination. In effect, the message is that immigrants and visitors to the U.S. no longer have the right to free speech.
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