CAMP SPRINGS, Maryland: A new rule allowing a US immigration agency to scrutinize a person’s “anti-American” views when applying for a green card or other benefits isn’t designed to target political beliefs, but to identify support for terrorist activity, the organization’s director told The Associated Press.
In a wide-ranging interview on Monday, the director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, delved into the agency’s contentious policy — announced last month — which allows officers to decide whether a foreigner applying for a certain benefit has endorsed what they believe are anti-American views.
Edlow also detailed problems he sees with a training program that’s popular with international students, but hated by some Trump supporters. He described how and why he’s thinking of changing the process by which hundreds of thousands of people become American citizens every year.
Edlow is overseeing the pivotal immigration agency at a time when President Donald Trump is upending traditional immigration policy and charging ahead with an aggressive agenda that restricts who gets to come into the US through legal pathways.
Questions over what constitutes anti-Americanism
