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www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know News India Times (August 23, 2025 - August 29, 2025) August 29, 2025 6 U.S. Affairs Trump Administration To Vet Immigrants For ‘Anti-American’ Views I mmigrants seeking lawful work in the United States and a legal pathway to citizenship will now be subject to screening for “anti-American” behavior, U.S. Citi- zenship and Immigration Services said Tuesday. In a policy alert summarizing the updated guid- ance, USCIS said officers will have discretion to deter- mine whether applicants for benefits, such as a green card, harbor anti-American views or have “endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused the views of an anti-American or terrorist organization or group,” including those that “support or promote antisemitic terrorism.” The agency also said, separately, that it would expand the types of benefits requests subject to social media vetting. Experts say the new policy risks slowing down benefits processing for applicants and would deter immigrants from speaking out on political or social issues. More broadly, the guidance is reflective of the Trump adminis- tration’s efforts to restrict both legal and illegal immigra- tion. In a news release, USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragess- er said: “America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies. … Immigration benefits – including to live and work in the United States – remain a privilege, not a right.” USCIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday. In its policy alert, USCIS did not provide specifics about how the new guidance would be applied, but it said espousing such views would be considered “an over- whelmingly negative factor” in an applicant’s request. The guidance is effective immediately and applies to pending and new application requests, USCIS said. “This is a new powerful weapon in President Trump’s arsenal against politically disfavored groups,” said David J. Bier, the director of immigration policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank based inWashington. The new policy says anti-American ideologies and activities are defined as those listed under the Immigra- tion and Nationality Act, which prohibits those affiliated or associated with a broad range of topics including antisemitism, terrorism and “world communism” from receiving citizenship. Bier predicted the changes would bog down adjudica- tions, with immigration officials requiring more time and documentation as they vet social media “and then make assessments against these vague criteria.” It will also deter millions of people from expressing criticism of or opposition to President Donald Trump and his administration, he said. “When mere ‘affiliation’ or ‘association’ with poorly de- fined, unpopular political speech is enough to trigger the loss of jobs, family, or any chance to remain in the United States or become a U.S. citizen, the pressure to avoid controversial views will be immense for anyone interact- ing with the immigration system,” he said. The USCIS policy update comes amid a host of other changes applied since Trump took office again, including a more subjective standard for how citizenship applicants are assessed on “good moral character.” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a lawyer and senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, described the move as “McCarthyism.” The term “anti-American ideologies or activities” mentioned in the alert has no precedent in immigration law, he said in a post on X, “and its definition is entirely up to the Trump admin.” Trump has launched a massive domestic deportation operation aimed at deporting up to 1 million immigrants within the first year of his second term, TheWashington Post reported. He has also threatened to strip U.S. citizen- ship from some of those who have been naturalized. And in April, USCIS announced it would screen immigrants’ social media for purported antisemitic activity and use any posts it finds as potential grounds for denying visa and green-card applications. -Special to TheWashington Post PHOTO:REUTERS/Marco Bello/File photo The seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seen after a news conference in Del Rio, Texas, U.S., September 19, 2021. By Andrew Jeong U.S. Citizenship Reviews Will Sharpen Focus On ‘Moral Character,’ Memo Says T he Trump administration has sig- naled it will further scrutinize im- migrants seeking U.S. citizenship by ordering authorities to double down on efforts to determine whether applicants have “good moral character,” according to a recent policy memo issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. On Friday, USCIS called for a more “rigorous, holistic and comprehensive” approach to evaluating those applying for naturalization, stating that “good moral character” is defined by an individual’s “behavior, adherence to societal norms, and positive contributions.” USCIS of- ficers have been instructed to judge “on a case-by-case basis,” the memo stated. Experts say the directive and its vague language are reflective of the Trump administration’s broader moves to limit legal immigration, leaving wiggle room for USCIS officers to make subjective choices about who gets to become a U.S. citizen. While the order “is not necessarily a break from past practice,” it emphasizes USCIS officers’ ability to “impose their subjective interpretations of this fuzzy concept in their evaluations of naturaliza- tion applicants,” said Jane Lopez, an as- sociate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University who specializes in im- migration and citizenship policy. According to Lopez, all applications for U.S. citizenship, permanent residency, tourism visas and student visas are by de- fault subject to evaluation by one or more USCIS officers. These officers already have the “authority to deny that application for a multitude of reasons,” she added. The latest move could “make it harder for noncitizens to obtain legal belong- ing in the United States,” she said, since USCIS officers “must evaluate something they cannot consistently describe or define.” President Donald Trump has cracked down on immigration in his second term, launching what may be the largest domes- tic deportation operation in U.S. history and threatening to strip U.S. citizenship from some of those who have been natu- ralized. In April, USCIS also announced it would screen immigrants’ social media for purported antisemitic activity and use any posts it finds as potential grounds for denying visa and green-card applications. During his first term, Trump issued a sweeping executive order that signifi- cantly revamped the federal government’s approach to illegal immigration by allow- ing the removal of those who “in the judg- ment of an immigration officer … pose a risk to public safety or national security.” “Good moral character” has been a requirement for obtaining U.S. citizenship since the Naturalization Act of 1790. But Lopez said citizenship applicants are now faced with the additional burden of prov- ing they have “positive attributes,” rather than simply demonstrating they have not been convicted of crimes or taken part in other kinds of misconduct. The USCIS memo cites “family caregiv- ing, responsibility, and ties in the United States” as examples of positive attributes, as well as educational achievement and long-term community involvement. In response to a question fromThe Washington Post about how “good moral character” will be defined, USCIS spokes- man Matthew J. Tragesser said in a state- ment said that the memo ensures officers are accounting for applicants’ contribu- tions to U.S. society, “including com- munity involvement, achievements, and financial responsibility rather than the absence of their misconduct.” He said that U.S. citizenship should be offered only to “the world’s best of the best.” Gabriel J. Chin, a professor and scholar of immigration law at the University of California at Davis, said the latest guid- ance is “so loose and discretionary that it is obviously susceptible to arbitrary enforcement.” “Many birthright U.S. citizens do not have sufficient educational or economic achievements that would entitle them to a visa to immigrate to the United States,” Chin said in an email. “If they had not been born here, they would not make the cut.” -TheWashington Post By Grace Moon PHOTO:videograb fromWhite Housevideo of ceremony Software developer Sundari Narayanan, poses with President Trump holding her Citizenship certificate at the White House following a Naturalization cer- emony Aug. 26, 2020.