The United States has altered its restrictions toward potential immigrants, allowing their green card applications to be denied for expressing anti-Israel political opinions, The New York Times reported on Saturday, after reviewing new training materials given to Department of Homeland Security immigration officers.
Further, the Times noted that these officers are now being referred to as "homeland defenders" in job postings, with one calling candidates to "Protect your homeland and defend your culture."
The training materials describe candidates "endorsing, promoting or supporting anti-American views" or "antisemitic terrorism, ideologies or groups," and tell officers to view such factors as "overwhelmingly negative."
Anti-Israel posts used as examples of antisemitism
Among the examples of antisemitism provided in the training materials are anti-Israel social media posts, such as one reading "Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine" with the Israeli flag crossed out, one with the map of Israel with the country's name replaced with the word "Palestine," and a post suggesting that Israelis should “taste what people in Gaza are tasting.”
Immigration officers were also told to “focus particularly on aliens who engaged in on-campus anti-American and antisemitic activities.”
Additionally, all cases that do involve "potential anti-American and/or antisemitic conduct or ideology" must be elevated to their managers and the agency’s general counsel’s office.
Other behaviors the materials describe as negative, the Times reported, were showing support for "subversive" ideologies, such as by “holding a sign advocating overthrow of the US government,” or burning a US flag, a form of political expression protected by the First Amendment.