The Trump administration’s “extreme vetting” has adopted a new tactic. Instead of “show us your papers,” “show us your social media accounts.”
The State Department has submitted a proposal that, if approved, would require all immigrant and non-immigrant applicants applying for American visas to submit Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter usernames as well lists of email addresses, phone numbers, and international travel from the last five years.
Last May, the administration revised procedures to permit consular officers responsible for processing applications at U.S. missions to request additional information if they have doubts about applicants’ backgrounds. Added were social media accounts, prior passport numbers, extensive details about family members, and longer personal history, such as travel, employment, and residence for the last 15 years.
That is expanded now to every applicant–about 15 million who apply for U.S. visas each year.
Approved applicants will be asked to furnish information about possible deportations or family members potentially involved in terrorist activities.
Hina Shamsi, director the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) National Security Project, said this recent move is likely to have a “chilling” effect on freedom of speech and association.
She said:
“People will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or misunderstood by a government official. We’re also concerned about how the Trump administration defines the vague and over-broad term ‘terrorist activities’ because it is inherently political and can be used to discriminate against immigrants who have done nothing wrong. There is a real risk that social media vetting will unfairly target immigrants and travelers from Muslim-majority countries for discriminatory visa denials, without doing anything to protect national security.”
The State Department published proposals in the Federal Register Friday, and the public has 60 days to comment on them before the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approves or rejects them.
We all remember the “travel ban,” the executive order Trump signed one week into his presidency that banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. After being struck down in federal court, a second followed, then a third.
At the end of last year, the Trump administration announced its intent to expel nearly 200,000 Salvadorans currently living in the United States under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), an extension to the move in November that took aim at 59,000 Haitian and 5,300 Nicaraguan immigrants living under the same protections.
Who can forget the president’s “shithole countries” comment after lawmakers brought him a bipartisan immigration deal proposal?
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