On April 27, 2026, People (citing a New York Times investigation) reported that internal Department of Homeland Security training materials direct U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers to deny green-card applications from immigrants who have engaged in specific protected political speech. The materials were reviewed by the New York Times and were given to USCIS adjudicators last month.
According to the materials, applicants should be denied if they have a record of 'endorsing, promoting or supporting anti-American views' or 'antisemitic terrorism, ideologies or groups.' The examples in the training are not abstract. They include: holding a sign 'advocating overthrow of the U.S. government'; attending pro-Palestine protests; posting 'Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine' on social media alongside an image of the Israeli flag crossed out; and desecrating the U.S. flag. None of these acts constitute crimes under U.S. law. Multiple are explicitly protected expression under the First Amendment, which the Supreme Court has held protects all 'persons' present in the United States, including non-citizens.
The USCIS spokesman who announced the framework last August said: 'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies.' The legal mechanism is that green-card adjudication includes 'discretion' factors, and the administration is using that discretion to assign immigration consequences to constitutionally protected speech without going through the legislative process required for any new substantive immigration restriction.
The practical effect: lawful permanent residents and applicants who have publicly criticized the Israeli government, posted in solidarity with Gaza, or expressed dissent during the Iran war can now have their applications denied. The materials also blur the line between political speech ('Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine') and 'antisemitic terrorism' — a category most legal scholars and civil-liberties groups consider distinct from criticism of a foreign government's military conduct.