US President Donald Trump’s administration has said it will assess applicants for US work, study and immigration visas for “anti-Americanism” and count any such finding against them, sparking concern about implications for free speech.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a “policy alert” dated Tuesday that it gave immigration officers new guidance on how to exercise discretion in cases where foreign applicants “support or promote anti-American ideologies or activities” as well as “antisemitic terrorism.”

Trump has labeled a range of voices as anti-American, including historians and museums documenting US slavery and pro-Palestinian protesters opposing US ally Israel over the ongoing Gaza war sparked by the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

“Anti-American activity will be an overwhelmingly negative factor in any discretionary analysis,”........

© The Times of Israel