?Commies not welcome!?: US immigration issues policy guidance regarding inadmissibility over affiliation with Communist & other totalitarian parties

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued guidance in its Policy Manual to address inadmissibility based on membership in or affiliation with the ‘Communist Party or any other totalitarian party’.

In an official release on Friday, USCIS had said that membership or affiliation with the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party is “inconsistent and incompatible” with the ‘Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America’, which includes pledging to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States”.

“The new policy manual section provides guidance on how to adjudicate inadmissibility due to membership in the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party in the context of adjustment of status applications,” the release said.

In general, unless otherwise exempt, any intending immigrant who is a member or affiliate of the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible to the United States. This addition to the policy manual will help officers adjudicate this inadmissibility ground consistent with federal law, it added.

Even though the decision comes in the backdrop of the growing rift between the USA and China over issues pertaining to trade, coronavirus, Hong Kong security legislation and Bejing’s treatment of its religious minority in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, it will also affect the Communist Party members of India and other countries who wish to migrate to the US and obtain the US citizenship.