The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced this week that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has begun scouring social-media posts by visa applicants for Jew-hatred. A senior spokesperson for the department told JNS that USCIS will use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism to guide those probes.
“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the department, stated earlier in the week.
Nearly 50 countries and hundreds of organizations have adopted or use the IHRA working definition, which is widely supported in Jewish communities worldwide. Critics have said it stifles criticism of the Israeli government, while adherents note that the definition itself and its contemporary examples allow for political disagreements with the Israeli government.
The senior Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told JNS that the department is guided in this instance by executive orders, which U.S. President Donald Trump signed and which state that the IHRA definition “shall be considered” in certain instances when evaluating alleged Jew-hatred.
