The Office of International Students and Scholars reaffirmed its commitment to providing legal assistance to international students following the announcement.
Jaeha Jang & Nora Moses
Staff Reporters
Ruiyan Wang
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this past Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security will begin reviewing the social media activity of international students at American universities.
The USCIS said it plans to deny noncitizen students “immigration benefit requests” if it finds that students are “linked to antisemitic activity.” Such activity would include supporting violent antisemitic ideologies and terrorist organizations on social media.
“[DHS Secretary Kristi Noem] has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again. You are not welcome here,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said, according to the announcement.
The federal government uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes “targeting of the state of Israel,” with the caveat that it is not antisemitic to lodge criticisms of Israel “similar to that leveled against any other country.” Yale’s policies on discrimination and harassment were recently updated to include that the IHRA definition would be “considered among other resources.”
The OISS’s immigration FAQ page notes that immigration attorneys partnered with the University can provide short-term legal assistance to international students regarding visa, travel and other immigration issues.
To the News’ questions about whether this legal assistance will be provided for students scrutinized under the new policy, Ozan Say, the director the OISS, told the News that the University will provide legal assistance to international students regardless of the specific context.
“OISS’s legal assistance is not tied to any specific action or policy but is available regarding visa, travel, and other immigration issues,” Say wrote.
On Thursday, the OISS’s immigration updates website added an update summarizing the new policy. Say told the News that his office will provide additional guidance as it learns “more about the impact of this announcement.”
At least two international students were arrested during the pro-Palestinian protests on campus last spring. One international student who took a plea deal offered at an October court hearing received 40 hours of community service.
A spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian Sumud Coalition wrote to the News that Yale should do more to protect student protesters, including ending “the YPD’s surveillance of student activists” and deleting disciplinary records of students “who’ve been punished for protest.”
The Yale Police Department has used social media surveillance to monitor students involved in Yalies4Palestine, Yale’s pro-Palestine activist group, during its encampment last spring. YPD analysts actively tracked social media accounts belonging to pro-Palestinian student groups, creating a spreadsheet listing student followers of the Yalies4Palestine and OccupyYale Instagram accounts.
“If Yale were serious about fighting antisemitism and defending students, it would stand up to Trump – who dines with Holocaust deniers – instead of staying silent,” the Sumud Coalition spokesperson said.
The new DHS policy follows a string of federal measures against alleged antisemitism on university campuses.
On Jan. 29, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that gave agencies 60 days to find ways to deport “Hamas sympathizers” on college campuses.
On March 10, the Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Yale, warning them of potential enforcement actions if they did not take action to address antisemitism on campus. The Education Department opened a second investigation into antisemitism at Yale on March 26.
The OISS is located at 421 Temple St.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content
