Immigrants looking for a legal way to life and work in the United States will now be subjected to screening of “anti -Americanism”, “the authorities said on Tuesday and raised among the critics that officers give too much freedom to reject foreigners under subjective judgment.
US citizenship and immigration services have stated that officers will now consider whether the applicant for benefits such as a green card, “approved, promoted, supported or otherwise approved” anti -American, terrorist or anti -Semitic views.
“The US benefits should not be provided to those who despise the country and promote anti -American ideologies,” USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said. “Immigration benefits – including living and working in the United States – affect the privilege, not the right.”
It is not specified what anti -Americanism represents and it is not clear how and when the Directive would be used.
“The report is that US and immigration agencies will be less tolerant of anti -Americanism or anti -Semitism in adopting immigration decisions,” said Elizabeth Jacobs, regulatory director and policy in the Center for Immigration Studies on Tuesday.
Jacobs said that the government is more explicitly explicitly in the type of behavior and practitioners should consider, but stressed that discretion is still introduced. “The agency cannot tell the officers that they have to deny – just consider it a negative discretion,” she said.
Critics are afraid that the update of policy will allow more subjective opinions on what is considered anti -American and will allow the personal bias of the officer to conceal his judgment.
“For me, it is a really big story that they open the door for stereotypes and prejudices and implicit bias to come from these decisions. This is really worrying,” said Jane Lilly Lopez, associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University.
Policy changes follow other recently implemented since the beginning of Trump’s administration, including Social media review And the last adding the evaluation of candidates looking for naturalization for a “good moral character”. This will not only consider “not only the absence of misconduct”, but also take into account the applicant’s positive attributes and contributions.
“This means that you will do a lot more work to provide evidence of meeting our standards,” Lopez said.
Experts disagree with the constitutionality of politics, including people who are not citizens of the US and their freedom of speech. Jacobs from the Center for Immigration Studies said that the rights of the first amendment do not expand to people outside the US or who are not US citizens.
Ruby Robinson, head of the lawyer at the Michiganese Center for Immigrator Rights, believes that the draft law on rights and the US Constitution protects all people in the United States regardless of their immigration status against government interference. “Many activities of this administration violate constitutional rights and must eventually be resolved in courts,” Robinson added.
Attorneys advise clients to adjust their expectations.
“People must understand that today we have a different system and many more things that apply to US citizens will not apply to someone trying to enter the United States,” said Jaime Diez, an immigration lawyer based in Brownsville, Texas.
Jonathan Grode, the Green and Spiegel Managing Partner, said the policy update is not unexpected as the Trump administration approaches immigration.
“That’s what was chosen. It is allowed to interpret the rules as they want,” Grite said. “The principle for them is always to reduce the strike zone. The law is still the same.”
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