WASHINGTON(National Times)- President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will assess applicants for US work, study and immigration visas for “anti-Americanism” and count any such finding against them, sparking concern about implications for free speech. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a “policy alert” dated Tuesday that it gave immigration officers new guidance on how to exercise discretion in cases where foreign applicants “support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities” as well as “antisemitic terrorism.” Trump has labeled a range of voices as anti-American, including historians and museums documenting US slavery and pro-Palestinian protesters opposing US ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza. “Anti-American activity will be an overwhelmingly negative factor in any discretionary analysis,” USCIS said. “America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies.” The announcement did not define anti-Americanism. But the policy manual refers to a section of federal law about prohibiting naturalization of people “opposed to government or law, or who favor totalitarian forms of government.” The full text mentions supporters of communism or totalitarian regimes and people who advocate overthrow of the US government and violence against government officers, among other factors. USCIS said it expanded the types of applications that have social media vetting, and reviews for “anti-American activity” will be added to that vetting. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the step hearkened to the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy hunted alleged communists in a campaign that became synonymous with political persecution. “McCarthyism returns to immigration law,” he said. Anti-Americanism “has no prior precedent in immigration law and its definition is entirely up to the Trump admin.” In April, the US government said it would begin screening the social media of immigrants and visa applicants for what it called antisemitic activity. Rights advocates raised free speech and surveillance concerns.
MORE THAN 6,000 STUDENT VISAS REVOKED
Earlier this week, the Trump administration revoked more than 6,000 student visas for overstays and breaking the law, including a small minority for “support for terrorism.” According to a State Department official, the move comes as the Trump administration has adopted a particularly hard-line approach toward student visas as part of its immigration crackdown, tightening social media vetting and expanding screening. Directives from the State Department this year have ordered US diplomats abroad to be vigilant against any applicants whom Washington may see as hostile to the United States and with a history of political activism. Around 4,000 visas were canceled because the visitors broke the law, with the vast majority being assault, the official said. Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and burglary were other offenses, the official added. The State Department did not break down the visas by nationality. But Secretary Rubio has vowed to be aggressive in targeting students from China. Those roughly 6,000 students represent a fraction of the 1.1 million foreign students who studied at colleges and universities in the US in the 2023-2024 academic year, the most recently available data. About 200 to 300 visas were revoked for terrorism, the official said, citing a rule about visa ineligibility under the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual. The rule identifies ineligibility grounds generally as “engaging in terrorist activities” and “having certain links to terrorist organisations.” The official did not say which groups the students whose visas have been revoked were in support of. President Trump has clashed with several top-level US universities, accusing them of becoming bastions of antisemitism following large-scale student protests advocating for Palestinian rights amid the Gaza war. In his clash with Harvard, Trump has frozen funding for investigations and threatened to remove the university’s tax-exempt status, prompting several European nations to increase research grants to attract talent. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he has revoked the visas of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, including students, because they got involved in activities which he said went against US foreign policy priorities. Trump administration officials have said that student visa and green card holders are subject to deportation over their support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, calling their actions a threat to US foreign policy and accusing them of being pro-Hamas. The Trump administration has faced setbacks in two of the highest-profile cases. Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident in the United States who led pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, was freed in June by a judge. He has since sued the Trump administration, saying it sought to “terrorize” him. A Tufts University student from Turkey was held for over six weeks in an immigration detention center in Louisiana after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza. She was released from custody after a federal judge granted her bail. She had been taken away off a Massachusetts street by masked plainclothes agents. Trump’s critics have called the effort an attack on free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
