‘I hear I'm not doing well': Trump hopes he can get into heaven and believes solving Ukraine war will get him there
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The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Immigrants seeking lawful work and citizenship are now subject to 'anti-Americanism' screening
Immigrants seeking a legal pathway to live and work in the United States will now be subject to screening for 'anti-Americanism',' authorities said Tuesday, raising concerns among critics that it gives officers too much leeway in rejecting foreigners based on a subjective judgment. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said officers will now consider whether an applicant for benefits, such as a green card, 'endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused" anti-American, terrorist or antisemitic views. 'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,' Matthew Tragesser, USCIS spokesman, said in a statement. 'Immigration benefits—including to live and work in the United States—remain a privilege, not a right.' It isn't specified what constitutes anti-Americanism and it isn't clear how and when the directive would be applied. 'The message is that the U.S. and immigration agencies are going to be less tolerant of anti-Americanism or antisemitism when making immigration decisions," Elizabeth Jacobs, director of regulatory affairs and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for immigration restrictions, said on Tuesday. Jacobs said the government is being more explicit in the kind of behaviors and practices officers should consider, but emphasized that discretion is still in place. "The agency cannot tell officers that they have to deny — just to consider it as a negative discretion,' she said. Critics worry the policy update will allow for more subjective views of what is considered anti-American and allow an officer's personal bias to cloud his or her judgment. 'For me, the really big story is they are opening the door for stereotypes and prejudice and implicit bias to take the wheel in these decisions. That's really worrisome," said Jane Lilly Lopez, associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University. The policy changes follow others recently implemented since the start of the Trump administration including social media vetting and the most recent addition of assessing applicants seeking naturalization for 'good moral character'. That will not only consider 'not simply the absence of misconduct' but also factor the applicant's positive attributes and contributions. 'It means you are going to just do a whole lot more work to provide evidence that you meet our standards,' Lopez said. Experts disagree on the constitutionality of the policy involving people who are not U.S. citizens and their freedom of speech. Jacobs, of the Center for Immigration Studies, said First Amendment rights do not extend to people outside the U.S. or who are not U.S. citizens. Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, believes the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution protects all people in the United States, regardless of their immigration status, against government encroachment. 'A lot of this administration's activities infringe on constitutional rights and do need to be resolved, ultimately, in courts,' Robinson added. Attorneys are advising clients to adjust their expectations. ' People need to understand that we have a different system today and a lot more things that apply to U.S. citizens are not going to apply to somebody who's trying to enter the United States," said Jaime Diez, an immigration attorney based in Brownsville, Texas. Jonathan Grode, managing partner of Green and Spiegel immigration law firm, said the policy update was not unexpected considering how the Trump administration approaches immigration. 'This is what was elected. They're allowed to interpret the rules the way they want,' Grode said. 'The policy always to them is to shrink the strike zone. The law is still the same.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Watch: Zelensky presents Trump with golf club from Ukrainian soldier
Volodymyr Zelensky presented Donald Trump with a golf club that once belonged to a Ukrainian soldier who lost his leg fighting in the war. The US president, an avid golfer, accepted the gift from Mr Zelensky and in turn presented him with symbolic keys to the White House, the Ukrainian leader's office said. The golf club previously belonged to Kostiantyn Kartavtsev, a Ukrainian soldier who 'had lost a leg in the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion while saving his brothers-in-arms', the office said. In the Oval Office on Monday, Mr Zelensky showed Mr Trump video footage of Mr Kartavtsev playing golf. The Ukrainian veteran organisation, United by Golf, published a video of Trump holding the golf club and thanking Mr Kartavtsev. 'I just watched your swing. I know a lot about golf and your swing is great,' Mr Trump said in the video message. 'You're an amazing person, and you just keep playing golf and doing all of the other things. Your country is a great country. We're trying to bring it back to health.' The golf club was presented to Mr Trump in private and not during their televised initial meeting. The US president warmly welcomed Mr Zelensky to Washington DC on Monday, a stark contrast from their Oval Office shouting match during the Ukrainian president's visit in February. Mr Zelensky has worked hard to repair ties with the White House, including by thanking Mr Trump and the US at least 12 times for their support on Monday. Mr Zelensky also brought a letter for Melania Trump from his wife, Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady. It is not clear what Mrs Zelenska wrote to Mrs Trump but it was in response to the US first lady writing her own letter to Putin about the Ukrainian children Russia had abducted. Foreign leaders visiting the White House have been trying to woo Mr Trump with various gifts. In late February, Sir Keir Starmer brought him an invitation for an official visit with a letter signed by the King. Putin brought his own gift when he visited Alaska last Friday for talks with Mr Trump. The Russian leader bought a brand new Russian motorbike for an Alaskan man who said that his own model was becoming impossible to repair because of US sanctions.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Trump team will soon decide what's ‘anti-American' when granting citizenship
President Donald Trump's administration is now screening for what it considers 'anti-American activity' when deciding whether immigrants can legally live and work in the United States. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Tuesday that 'anti-American' activity — including social media posts and any perceived ideological affiliations — will be considered an 'overwhelmingly negative factor' when deciding whether immigrants can stay in the country legally. But it will be largely up to officers' discretion to decide what 'anti-American' means, relying on a 60-year-old immigration law that prohibits alleged communists or people who support 'totalitarian' governments from entering the country. 'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,' USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in a statement Tuesday. 'Immigration benefits — including to live and work in the United States — remain a privilege, not a right." The agency's policy manual was updated Tuesday to note that immigration authorities can deny citizenship, work permits, green cards and other lawful status to anyone it deems to have supported 'anti-American ideologies' or 'anti-American activities.' The agency's review of social media profiles will also screen for 'anti-American activity,' USCIS announced. The manual notes that the definition of 'anti-American' relies on language in a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which doesn't mention 'anti-American' and largely focuses on communism. That 1952 law was drafted at the height of red-scare hysteria, Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade, and investigations under the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which investigated alleged disloyalty and subversive activities, including perceived communist sympathies. The guidance comes just days after the Trump administration expanded a 'good moral character' test for citizenship, with officers instructed to perform more than a 'cursory mechanical review focused on the absence of wrongdoing.' Immigration authorities must now consider 'a holistic assessment of an alien's behavior, adherence to societal norms, and positive contributions that affirmatively demonstrate good moral character.' The Trump administration's latest maneuvers join an expansive anti-immigration agenda defined by mass arrests, stripping legal status for tens of thousands of people, restricting who can enter the country — and who can be considered a citizen. The president is seeking to unilaterally redefine birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment while closing all points of entry for asylum seekers and cutting off legal protections for more than one million immigrants — radically expanding the pool of 'undocumented' people now vulnerable for arrest and removal. USCIS guidance announced on Tuesday also instructs authorities to screen whether applicants promote what they consider 'antisemitic terrorism and antisemitic terrorist organizations' and 'antisemitic ideologies.' The new screening measures follow similar guidance from USCIS and other agencies as the Trump administration targets campus dissent against Israel's war in Gaza, which officials broadly characterized as antisemitic. In May, USCIS announced the agency was 'immediately' reviewing immigrants' social media accounts for what it considers 'antisemitic activity' that could be used as evidence to deny them legal status in the United States. 'This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity,' according to the agency. The following month, the State Department restarted interviews for student visa applicants and directed embassies and consulates to 'conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants. Those applicants' social media privacy settings must also be 'public' to be reviewed by immigration authorities, according to State Department orders. Diplomats were ordered to review social media profiles for 'any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.' They also were instructed to decide if applicants displayed any 'advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security' and 'support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.'
