Overview

• New guidance tells adjudicators to treat evidence of endorsing, promoting, supporting, or espousing anti-American, antisemitic, or terrorist ideologies—including in social media posts—as an overwhelmingly negative factor.
• The policy applies to discretionary benefits such as green cards, work permits, and student visas, and it governs both newly filed requests and those already pending.
• USCIS says its evaluations will rely on Immigration and Nationality Act provisions barring advocacy of world communism, totalitarianism, violence against officials, or overthrow of the U.S. government.
• The move layers onto a separate August 15 change that broadened the naturalization ‘good moral character’ review into a holistic assessment of behavior and positive contributions.
• Civil-rights advocates and legal experts warn the criteria are vague and could chill speech, introduce bias, and slow processing, while CBS reports USCIS will also probe potential fraud in parole applications.