Under Trump, Green Card Seekers Face New Scrutiny for Views on Israel

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Under Trump, Green Card Seekers Face New Scrutiny for Views on Israel

In guidance to immigration officers, the administration describes participating in pro-Palestinian protests and criticizing Israel as “overwhelmingly negative” factors.

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Supporters of Palestine demonstrating in New York last year. Under new guidance issued by the Trump administration, immigrants could be denied a green card for participating in pro-Palestinian protests.

Credit...

Vincent Alban/The New York Times

By

Hamed Aleaziz

and

Nicholas Nehamas

Reporting from Washington

April 25, 2026,

5:02 a.m. ET

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For decades, immigrants who have followed the rules and have not broken the law have had hopes of earning a green card, a document that allows them to live legally in the United States and gain a path to citizenship.

But under new guidance issued by the Trump administration, immigrants can now be denied a green card for expressing political opinions, such as participating in pro-Palestinian campus protests, posting criticism of Israel on social media and desecrating the American flag, according to internal Department of Homeland Security training materials reviewed by The New York Times.

The documents, which have not been previously reported, show how expansively the Trump administration is carrying out a

directive

from last August to vet green card applicants for “anti-American” and “antisemitic” views.

The administration includes criticism of Israel as a potentially disqualifying factor, with the training materials citing as an example of questionable speech a social media post that declares, “Stop Israeli Terror in Palestine” and shows the Israeli flag crossed out.

The materials were distributed last month to immigration officers at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security and handles applications for green cards and other forms of legal status.

They reflect how U.S.C.I.S. — long considered the gateway agency for legal migration — has rapidly transformed under President Trump into another cog in his administration’s deportation machine. The agency has worked to

strip

naturalized Americans of their citizenship and has

hired

armed federal agents to investigate immigration crimes.

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