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Three labor unions filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday, arguing that the federal government violated the First Amendment rights of lawful visa holders in the United States by using software to search their social media for specific viewpoints, including criticism of the U.S. government and Israel.
The United Auto Workers, Communications Workers of America, and American Federation of Teachers have filed suit against the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
It comes after the State Department said it had canceled the visas of at least six people over social media comments about the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his murder last month.
“Plaintiffs represent thousands of people whose speech has been frozen by the threat of adverse immigration action if the government rejects anything they have expressed or will express,” the lawsuit said.
Trump administration screens legal immigrant applicants for “anti-Americanism” and anti-Semitism
Three labor unions have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over alleged First Amendment violations of visa holders. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Administration officials have claimed that foreigners do not have the same constitutional rights as American citizens and are not entitled to a visa, as the federal government seeks to target them over freedom of expression.
“The United States has no obligation to allow foreigners to come to our country, commit anti-American, pro-terrorism, or anti-Semitic acts of hatred, or incite violence,” Tommy Piggott, the State Department’s principal deputy spokesman, said in a statement. “We will continue to revoke the visas of those who put the safety of our citizens at risk.”
The lawsuit cites high-profile cases and comments from federal officials that say a government program uses artificial intelligence and other automated tools to monitor visa holders’ posts and targets people who criticize the Trump administration and what the government considers “hateful ideology.”
The federal government has defined support for terrorism broadly to include criticism of US support for Israel and the Jewish state’s military action, as well as support for the Palestinians. The government has used this as justification to cancel visas.
A federal judge fires harsh criticism at Trump’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian protesters
The State Department said it has canceled the visas of at least six people over social media comments about the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his murder last month. (Getty Images)
The unions’ complaint cited the case of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, who was released in June after months in detention after the government tried to deport him for participating in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
Immigration threats over views the government disagrees with have led some union members to withdraw from publicly joining their unions in organizing events, step down from leadership roles and “delete, abstain from, or alter their social media and online engagement with the unions,” the suit said.
“The loss of participation has harmed Plaintiffs’ ability to further their organizational missions and has impeded their ability to carry out their responsibilities, which include recruiting, retaining, and organizing union members, advocating on behalf of union members, and promoting civic and political engagement among union members,” the lawsuit said.
Many union members stopped expressing their opinions because “the government promised and demonstrated that saying the wrong thing can lead to life-altering immigration consequences, especially for visa holders and lawful permanent residents,” the complaint said.
The federal government has defined support for terrorism broadly to include criticism of American support for Israel. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, the administration has looked to online posts to target foreigners for potentially revoking their visas.
On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order to ensure that visa holders “do not espouse hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security.”
Over the summer, the State Department said it would begin requiring applicants to post their social media accounts for government surveillance, and that interviews with applicants would determine who might pose a threat to national security.
Reuters contributed to this report.