What to know about claims US will deny citizenship to people who don't support Israel

On April 9, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will now consider "antisemitic activity" on social media as grounds for denying immigration benefits to applicants seeking to study or reside in the United States.

As the news spread, some people online claimed the announcement meant government officials would deny citizenship to applicants who do not support Israel. Others alleged the U.S. government was "making support for Israel and Judaism a requirement for US citizenship" or that the citizenship agency would "deny immigration benefits to anyone whose social media expresses a verboten opinion on Palestine."

???? The Department of Homeland Security is making support for Israel and Judaism a requirement for US citizenship. pic.twitter.com/5etffZm7yq

— Red Pill Media (@RedPillMediaX) April 9, 2025

It was not yet clear whether DHS' announcement — available on the agency's website — means people may be denied U.S. citizenship on the basis of their criticism of Israel, although U.S. immigration officials already have targeted pro-Palestinian demonstrators for removal from the country. While the announcement does not explicitly apply to those seeking citizenship, it does pertain to people seeking "lawful permanent residence status," which is often a required step before applying for citizenship.

In an emailed statement, DHS said its definition of "antisemitic activity" will align with President Donald Trump's executive orders on antisemitism; an order of his from 2019, during his first term, affirmed the United States' 2016 adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's "working definition" of antisemitism, which states that antisemitism includes the "targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity," but that not all criticisms of Israel are antisemitic.

Snopes previously published a collection of explainers on the Israel-Hamas war to help readers make sense of the conflict and the history between Israel and Palestine that led up to it.

Breaking down DHS' announcement

The April 9 news release from DHS read in part (emphasis ours):

Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin considering aliens' antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests. This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity.

Consistent with President Trump's executive orders on Combatting Anti-Semitism, Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism and Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats, DHS will enforce all relevant immigration laws to the maximum degree, to protect the homeland from extremists and terrorist aliens, including those who support antisemitic terrorism, violent antisemitic ideologies and antisemitic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Ansar Allah aka: "the Houthis."

[…]

Under this guidance, USCIS will consider social media content that indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests. This guidance is effective immediately.

DHS did not explicitly say peaceful protest against Israel or support of Palestinian self-determination, for example, are considered "antisemitic activity," instead listing various groups designated terrorism organizations by the United States, including Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has vowed to overthrow Israel. Furthermore, the definition of antisemitism Trump's 2019 executive order officially endorsed states that "criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic."

However, Trump's administration has already detained lawful permanent residents and students on visas for pro-Palestinian speech or activity, claiming — often without evidence, at least among the widely reported cases — that the detainees had ties to or supported Hamas.

Furthermore, another executive order Trump signed on Jan. 29, 2025, reaffirmed his 2019 order and specifically referenced pro-Palestinian demonstrations on student campuses, claiming Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel "unleashed an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses."

In the order, Trump instructed officials to determine what actions each U.S. agency can take to "curb or combat anti-Semitism" and review "all pending administrative complaints … against or involving institutions of higher education alleging civil-rights violations related to or arising from post-October 7, 2023, campus anti-Semitism." 

Many of the students and scholars the Trump administration targeted publicly spoke out against Israel's reported human rights violations against Palestinians and Israel's ongoing occupation of Gaza. The Trump administration also has faced criticism for "weaponizing antisemitism"; according to NPR, the drafter of the definition of antisemitism used by the Trump administration believes his definition "is being distorted and used to silence anti-Israel critics." 

It is worth noting that Jewish groups are split on whether opposing Israel is antisemitic. For example, the Anti-Defamation League, known for its pro-Israel advocacy, considers some criticisms of Israel, including anti-Zionism (opposition to the existence of Israel), antisemitic. In contrast, Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization, says, "there has been debate, criticism and opposition to Zionism within Jewish thought for as long as it has existed" and "criticism of Zionism is not to be conflated with antisemitism."