The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that it will now treat antisemitic actions—such as hateful posts on social media or physical harassment of Jewish people—as valid reasons to deny someone immigration benefits, starting immediately, according to a statement by a federal agency on Wednesday.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will now start checking the social media activity of immigrants who apply for certain benefits. This includes people applying for green cards (lawful permanent resident status), foreign students, and individuals connected to schools or institutions that are involved in antisemitic activities. This new rule is effective immediately. This move comes after a notice last month from the Department of Homeland Security. They proposed collecting social media usernames from people applying for benefits like green cards or US citizenship. The proposal is in response to an executive order signed by President Trump. The public and government agencies were given until May 5 to share their opinions on this plan.

The proposal notice has raised concerns among immigration and free speech advocates because it seems to widen the government's social media monitoring, even for people who are already in the U.S. legally and have been vetted, not just for those trying to enter the country. Still, immigration officials have been checking social media for more than ten years, starting during President Obama's second term and increasing during President Trump's first term. Wednesday’s announcement didn’t explain what actions would count as antisemitism or name the schools involved.

USCIS didn’t reply right away when the Associated Press asked for more details. Since Trump became president, there has been an increase in efforts to deport foreign-born students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests or spoke out against Israel. Mahmoud Khalil was arrested last month and held in custody. The authorities said they cancelled his green card because they believed his involvement in the campus protests showed antisemitic support for Hamas.

The agency also said it would view social media posts that show support for antisemitic terrorism, terrorist groups with antisemitic views, or other antisemitic actions as a negative point when deciding on someone's immigration benefits. In its definition of terrorist aliens and extremists, USCIS includes individuals who back violent antisemitic ideology, antisemitic terrorist organisations, and antisemitism terrorism. It mentions Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.