DHS to Screen Migrants’ Social Media for Antisemitic Posts
The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it will be monitoring migrants’ social media posts for antisemitic content as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to combat antisemitism.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services said that antisemitic activity online will be considered as “grounds for denying immigration benefit requests.” DHS said the policy will “immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity.”
“Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests,” the department said.
The agency cited President Donald Trump’s executive orders on combating antisemitism and protecting national security as the basis for the new enforcement guidelines. DHS stated that it will target 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.’”
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs. “Sec. [Kristi] Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here.”
The move follows a wave of antisemitic incidents on US college campuses, many involving foreign students, since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hamas conflict in October 2023.
