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US to screen immigration applicants for Jew-hatred posts on social media

“There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers,” stated Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Kristi Noem
Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, travels to New Orleans, La., to observe Department of Homeland Security security operations for Super Bowl LIX, Feb. 3, 2025. Credit: Tia Dufour/U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The federal government announced on Wednesday that it intends to start screening social-media posts from those who apply to immigrate to the United States for Jew-hatred.

“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,” stated Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security, “has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for antisemitic violence and terrorism—think again. You are not welcome here,” McLaughlin said.

Carly Gammill, director of legal policy at the StandWithUs legal department, told JNS that the “monitoring of social media by immigration officials dates back to at least the second Obama administration.”

“This new measure communicates the clear position that to threaten violence against the Jewish community is fundamentally at odds with American values and the safety of American citizens,” she said. “That seems a reasonable position no matter one’s politics.”

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