The US administration is adding new guidance to its green card application process to deny immigrants seeking permanent US residency status if they express anti-American, anti-Israeli or pro-Palestinian political views, according to a report by the New York Times.
The new guidelines state that immigrants can now be denied a green card for expressing political opinions, such as through participating in pro-Palestinian rallies, posting criticism of Israel on social media and desecrating the American flag, according to internal Department of Homeland Security training materials reviewed by the Times.
The new documents follow US President Donald Trump's directive from last August to probe green card applicants for "anti-American" and "antisemitic" views, which includes criticism of Israel as a potentially "disqualifying factor" for approval.
The training materials viewed by the Times cite a social media post as an example of questionable speech. The post says, "Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine" and shows the Israeli flag crossed out. US immigration officers received the new materials last month through US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is a division of the Department of Homeland Security that handles applications for green cards and other forms of legal status.
A green card, also known as a permanent resident card, allows foreign nationals to live and work permanently in the United States. Guidelines for eligibility have previously included having no criminal background and abiding by the rules of entering and living in the US based on family or employment in the country or for those seeking political asylum from their homeland.
The new USCIS guidelines exposed by the New York Times show how rapidly the green card vetting system has transformed under Trump to facilitate his directive for mass deportation of undocumented or illegal immigrants. The agency has also been working on ways to strip naturalised Americans of their citizenship, and the US administration has hired armed federal agents to investigate immigration crimes.
According to the Times report, the administration is granting permanent legal residency to far fewer applicants, citing that green card approvals have fallen by more than half in recent months.
"There is no room in America for aliens who espouse anti-American ideologies or support terrorist organisations," USCIS Director Joseph Edlow told Congress in February.
Critics said the administration is seeking to restrict legitimate political speech and deny Americans and legal residents their constitutional First Amendment rights and that the president has conflated opposition to Israeli government policies with anti-Semitism.
Amanda Baran, a senior agency official under President Joe Biden's administration, said that basing green card decisions on "ideological screenings is fundamentally un-American and should have no place in a country built on the promise of free expression."
The current administration does not see it that way and postured their initiatives as "defending American values."
"If you hate America, you have no business demanding to live in America," USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said in a statement, adding the administration’s policies had "nothing to do with free speech" and were meant to protect "American institutions, the safety of citizens, national security and the freedoms of the United States.”
The US administration has moved to remove immigrants for expressing political views that it deems anti-Israel and anti-American. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked the visas of pro-Palestinian student activists, including one who wrote a column criticising her university’s response to pro-Palestinian demands.
The Department of Homeland Security has also proposed reviewing the social media histories of tourists seeking to visit the United States, according to the New York Times.
The new training materials reviewed by the Times discourage officers from granting green cards to people with a history of "endorsing, promoting or supporting anti-American views" or "antisemitic terrorism, ideologies or groups" and to weigh those factors as "overwhelmingly negative."
The guidance also describes burning or desecrating the American flag as a "negative factor," even though the US Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is a form of political expression and free speech protected by the First Amendment.
The Times report also noted that in recent months, the agency has changed the way it refers to employees who approve green card applications. Over the decades, they have been referred to as "immigration services officers," but in recent job postings, they are now referred to as "homeland defenders."
"Protect your homeland and defend your culture," one posting said.
