Labor unions sue Trump administration over social media monitoring of visa holders

Three labor unions filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday arguing that the federal administration violated the First Amendment rights of visa holders legally in the U S by using a activity to search their social media for specific viewpoints including criticism of the U S regime and Israel United Auto Workers Communications Workers of America and the American Federation of Teachers sued the State Department the Department of Homeland Safety the U S Citizenship and Immigration Provision Immigration and Customs Enforcement This comes after the State Department mentioned it had revoked the visas of at least six people over social media comments made about late conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his murder last month Plaintiffs represent thousands of people whose speech is chilled by the threat of adverse immigration action if the executive disapproves of anything they have expressed or will express the lawsuit reads TRUMP ADMINISTRATION TO VET LEGAL IMMIGRANT APPLICANTS FOR 'ANTI-AMERICANISM' AND ANTISEMITISMAdministration administrators have purported that foreigners do not have the same constitutional rights as U S citizens and do not have a right to hold a visa as the federal leadership seeks to target them for speech The United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country commit acts of anti-American pro-terrorist and antisemitic hate or incite violence We will continue to revoke the visas of those who put the safety of our citizens at liability State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott revealed in a announcement The lawsuit points to high-profile cases and the comments of federal representatives to argue that a regime scheme uses artificial intelligence and other automated tools for surveillance of visa holders' posts and targets people critical of the Trump administration and what the authorities considers to be hateful ideology The federal administration has broadly defined advocacy for terrorism to include criticism of U S endorsement for Israel and the Jewish State's military action as well as encouragement for Palestinians The authorities has used this as a justification to cancel visas FEDERAL JUDGE LAUNCHES SCATHING BROADSIDE OF TRUMP'S EFFORTS TO DEPORT PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTERSThe unions' complaint cited the circumstance of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil who was distributed in June following months in detention after the regime attempted to deport him for participating in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University The lawsuit explained the immigration threats over views disapproved by the leadership have prompted a few union members to withdraw from publicly affiliating with their unions at organizing events step down from leadership roles and deleted refrained from or otherwise altered their social media and online engagement with the unions This loss of engagement has harmed the plaintiffs ability to further their organizational missions and impeded their ability to carry out their responsibilities which include recruitment retention and organization of union members advocacy on behalf of union members and the promotion of civic and political engagement among union members the lawsuit declared Multiple union members have stopped expressing their views because the establishment has promised and proven that saying the wrong thing can trigger life-altering immigration consequences particularly for visa holders and Lawful Permanent Residents the complaint reads Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January the administration has searched for online posts to target foreigners for the expected rescinding of their visa On his first day back in office Trump signed an executive order to ensure visa holders do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens way of life cabinet institutions or founding principles and do not advocate for aid or endorsement designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national defense Over the summer the State Department noted it would start requesting that applicants make their social media accounts constituents for regime monitoring and that interviews with applicants would determine who may pose a threat to national safeguard Reuters contributed to this account