Top US immigration official defends rule targeting 'anti-American' views in green card, visa process

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CAMP SPRINGS, Maryland (AP) — A new rule allowing a U.S. immigration agency to scrutinize a person's “anti-American” views when applying for a green card or other benefits isn't designed to target political beliefs, but to identify support for terrorist activity, the organization's director told The Associated Press.

In a wide-ranging interview on Monday, the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, delved into the agency's contentious policy — announced last month — which allows officers to decide whether a foreigner applying for a certain benefit has endorsed what they believe are anti-American views.

Edlow also detailed problems he sees with a training program that's popular with international students, but hated by some Trump supporters. He described how and why he's thinking of changing the process by which hundreds of thousands of people become American citizens every year.

Edlow is overseeing the pivotal immigration agency at a time when President Donald Trump is upending traditional immigration policy and charging ahead with an aggressive agenda that restricts who gets to come into the U.S. through legal pathways.

The new policy by USCIS stipulates that its officers could now consider whether an applicant “endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused” anti-American, terrorist or antisemitic views when making their decision about whether to grant the benefit.

Critics questioned whether it gives officers too much leeway in rejecting foreigners based on a subjective judgment.

Edlow said the agency needs to be aware of what people applying for benefits are saying online and when that speech becomes hateful. He said the agency won't automatically deny someone a benefit because of what they said, but it's a factor they take into consideration.

He said they're not looking for people who've posted anti-Trump speech. He said criticism of any administration was “one of the most American activities you can engage in.”

“This goes beyond that. This is actual espousing (of) the beliefs and the ideology of terrorist, of terrorist organizations and those who wish to destroy the American way of life.”

In examples of speech that might raise a red flag, Edlow noted students who post pro-Hamas beliefs or are taking part in campus protests where Jewish students are blocked from entering buildings.

The Trump administration has made cracking down on student protests a high priority. The government has said noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the U.S. for expressing views the administration considers to be antisemitic and “pro-Hamas,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

In one of the most high-profile examples, federal immigration authorities in March arrested Palestinian activist and green card holder, Mahmoud Khalil, who as a student played a prominent role in Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protests.

USCIS recently announced that it could now hire law enforcement agents who could make arrests, execute search warrants and carry weapons. That’s a change for the agency that historically investigates immigration fraud but hands cases over to other agencies to prosecute.

Edlow said their focus would be on “large scale criminal activity” such as large-scale asylum fraud or marriage fraud.

“They’re not a police force. This is going to be a highly trained and very small section of this agency dealing specifically with rooting out immigration fraud,” said Edlow. He said previously the agency was stymied by how far it could take cases because they eventually had to turn them over to another agency for prosecution.

Edlow said there would be a “couple hundred” of the officers to start, but put it in the context of the “thousands upon thousands” of other staff that the agency has to adjudicate benefits.

The Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements program was created in 1987 as a way for various government agencies to check whether someone is eligible for public benefits.

Edlow said his agency has been working with the Social Security Administration to make it easier for states and local governments to access. They can now access the system using a Social Security number or the last four digits of one, instead of needing a specific Homeland Security identifying number that most of them didn’t have. And they can submit a number of requests at the same time as opposed to one at a time.

Edlow also said USCIS is also entering into agreements with secretaries of state so they can use the system to verify their voter rolls in what he said was a bid to counter voter fraud.

Critics have questioned the reliability of the data and whether people will be erroneously dropped from voter rolls as well as whether their privacy is being protected.

Edlow says the agency has a “huge team” to verify the information is accurate.

While Edlow created a furor in his confirmation hearing when he said he'd like to see an end to post-graduate work authorization for international students, he told The AP he’s not proposing any specific changes at this time.

About 240,000 of the 1.1 million people on student visas in the U.S. are on Optional Practical Training — a one-year post-graduation period when they are authorized to work in fields related to their degrees. It can last up to three years for graduates in science, math and technology fields, which have faced persistent labor shortages in the U.S.

Edlow said ultimately the fate of the program isn't just up to his agency to decide, but he wants to put “parameters” on it.

“It creates a competitive, in my opinion, an unfair, competitive advantage for businesses to hire these students over U.S. students because, well, they can get in for short term, maybe get them for cheaper,” he said.

Anyone wishing to become an American must pass tests on English and American government and history.

Edlow said the agency will soon be reverting to using a test introduced in 2020, during Trump's first term. That test required applicants to answer more questions. He’s exploring various changes to the current test, with no firm timeline. He described it as “too easy,” saying answers can just be memorized.

“That’s not showing an attachment to the Constitution as required by the statute,” said Edlow. “Nor is writing a single sentence in English and reading a single sentence in English really demonstrating a familiarity at a certain degree with the English language.”

Edlow said he's weighing having applicants write an essay to assess their understanding of the citizenship process.

The H1-B visa program, commonly associated with the tech industry, was created in 1990 for people with a bachelor’s degree or higher in fields where jobs are deemed hard to fill, especially science, technology, engineering and math. Critics say the visa allows companies to pay lower wages with fewer labor protections.

Controversy over the program has been especially pronounced in the Republican Party. Wealthy members of the tech world have supported the visas, while many people in Trump’s base are suspicious.

The White House is believed to be weighing new rules for the program.

Edlow said his concern with H1-B visas is the “displacement of American workers.”

“These companies can more easily and cheaply bring in very experienced foreign workers at the lower wage level, as opposed to having U.S. employees that you might need to pay at a different level,” he said.

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