U.S. Says It Is Now Monitoring Immigrants’ Social Media for Antisemitism

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced it will begin screening immigrants’ social media for evidence of antisemitic activity as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. The screenings will affect people applying for permanent residence status as well as foreigners affiliated with educational institutions. The policy will go into effect immediately.

In a statement issued Wednesday morning, the Department of Homeland Security said it will “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 [the Houthis].”

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The announcement comes following the highly publicized arrests and detentions of pro-Palestinian student activists such as Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, who the government alleges engaged in antisemitic activities. Their lawyers deny the allegations.

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