U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Wednesday that effective immediately it will begin reviewing applicants’ social media accounts, using antisemitic content as grounds for denying any immigration benefits.  

The decision will impact those seeking to gain a green card or a student visa. 

“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, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement.

“Sec. [Kristi] Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here.”

The announcement comes after DHS and its component agencies have made a string of arrests of those protesting the Israel-Gaza conflict, while also stripping visas from students and faculty at universities across the country.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he has stripped student visas from at least 300 people, calling them “lunatics.”

The Trump administration has asserted those arrested have supported Hamas, but critics see it as a crackdown on free speech.

The announcement said DHS will focus on “those who support antisemitic terrorism, violent antisemitic ideologies and antisemitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah aka: ‘the Houthis.’”

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