The U.S. authorities introduced Wednesday it should start screening immigrants and visa candidates for alleged anti-Semitic exercise on social media, drawing sharp criticism from rights teams – together with Jewish advocates – who warned of free speech violations and extreme surveillance.
President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests over U.S. ally Israel’s genocidal conflict on Gaza after Palestinian resistance group Hamas’ October 2023 incursion.
“Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens’ anti-Semitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests,” USCIS, an company of the Homeland Security Department, stated in an announcement.
The step will instantly have an effect on these making use of for lawful everlasting resident standing, overseas college students and people affiliated with instructional establishments linked to anti-Semitic exercise, it added.
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers.”
The Trump administration has usually labeled pro-Palestinian voices as anti-Semitic and sympathetic to teams like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels, whom Washington designates as “terrorists.”
The administration is making an attempt to deport some overseas college students, has revoked a number of visas and has warned universities of federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian protests.
Protesters, together with some Jewish teams, say the Trump administration conflates their criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and help for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism and help for extremism.
Rights advocates and human rights consultants have condemned the Trump administration, together with Wednesday’s announcement, which they are saying threatens free speech and is akin to surveillance and singling out of immigrants.
Free speech group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) stated the Trump administration was “formalizing 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 stated.
The Nexus Project, which fights anti-Semitism, stated the Trump administration was going after immigrants within the title of tackling anti-Semitism and treating anti-Semitism as an imported downside.
Rights advocates have additionally raised issues about Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias through the Israel-Gaza conflict. The Trump administration has not introduced steps in response.
Source: www.dailysabah.com