WASHINGTON: The US Department of Homeland Security said on Monday that past statements espousing what it labeled extremist views from immigrants applying for green cards and naturalisation would “warrant closer scrutiny,” causing free speech advocates to raise concerns that it could stifle First Amendment rights.
The DHS statement came in response to a weekend report by the New York Times, which cited documents saying that under new guidance by President Donald Trump’s administration, immigrants can now be denied a green card for expressing political opinions, like participating in pro-Palestinian protests, criticizing Israel and desecrating the American flag.
“Certain behaviors and statements may raise serious concerns for USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) personnel reviewing an applicant’s file, including espousing terrorist ideologies, expressing hatred for American values, advocating for the violent overthrow of the United States government, or providing material support to terrorist organizations,” USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said. “Such actions warrant closer scrutiny,” he added. USCIS is a part of DHS.
The Trump administration includes criticism of Israel as a potentially disqualifying factor, with DHS training materials, citing as an example of questionable speech a social media post that declares, “Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine” and shows the Israeli flag crossed out, the newspaper reported.
Immigration officers were told to weigh those factors as “overwhelmingly negative,” it added. Critics and rights groups have raised free speech and due process concerns.
“Trump plans to deny legal residency in the U.S. based on whether he agrees with your speech. Since when did it become ‘anti-American’ to criticize the actions of a foreign government?” Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen wrote on the social media platform X.
“This is an incredibly disturbing attack on free speech, with the government deciding who can enter the country based purely on their expression of political views,” civil liberties group Defending Rights and Dissent said.
Trump has cracked down on pro-Palestinian movements by attempting to deport foreign protesters, threatening to freeze funds for universities where protests were held and scrutinizing immigrants’ online speech.
Last year, the Trump administration said it would vet immigration applications for “anti-Americanism” and antisemitism. Trump alleges pro-Palestinian movements are antisemitic and support extremists.
Activists, including some Jewish groups, say the government conflates criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism. In one attempted deportation case, the sole basis authorities provided to act against Tufts University graduate Rumeysa Ozturk was an editorial she co-authored in a student newspaper criticizing Tufts’ response to Israel’s war on Gaza.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Israel traded diplomatic blows on Tuesday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned what he said were grain purchases from occupied Ukrainian territory “stolen” by Russia and threatened sanctions against those attempting to profit from it.
Kyiv considers all grain produced in the four regions that Russia claims as its own since invading Ukraine in 2022 as well as Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, to be stolen and has protested over its export to other countries.
Russia calls the regions its “new territories”, but they are still internationally recognised as Ukrainian. Moscow has not commented on the legal status of grain collected in them.
“Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload,” Zelenskiy said on X, adding: “This is not – and cannot be – legitimate business”.
“The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country’s ports and what cargo they are carrying,” added Zelenskiy.
Ukraine on Tuesday summoned Israel’s ambassador over what Kyiv described as Israeli inaction in allowing shipments of grain to enter the country from Russian-occupied Ukraine. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement it handed the ambassador a “note of protest”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that Kyiv has not provided any evidence for its claims.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Tuesday, saying Russia would not get involved. “Let the Kyiv regime deal with Israel on its own,” he said. Traders have told Reuters that it is impossible to track the origin of wheat once it is mixed.
