US President Donald Trump. FILE PHOTO | NMG
In a broad expansion of the information gathered from applicants
for US visas, the federal government is proposing to collect social
media identities from nearly everyone who seeks entry into the United
States, according to a State Department filing on Friday.
The
proposal, if approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
would require most immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants to list
all social media identities they have used in the past five years.
The
information will be used to vet and identify them, according to the
proposals, which would affect about 14.7 million people annually.
The
proposals support President Donald Trump’s promise to institute
“extreme vetting” of foreigners entering the United states to prevent
terrorism.
Previously, under rules instituted last May, consular officials
were instructed to collect social media identifiers only when they
determined “that such information is required to confirm identity or
conduct more rigorous national security vetting,” a State Department
official said at the time.
Tighter vetting
The
State Department said then that the tighter vetting would apply only to
those “who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in
connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa
ineligibilities.”
The American Civil Liberties Union
expressed concern, saying the move would have a “chilling” effect on
freedom of speech and association.
“People will now
have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or
misunderstood by a government official,” Hina Shamsi, director ACLU’s
National Security Project, said in a statement.
“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,” she said.
“There is a real risk
that social media vetting will unfairly target immigrants and travellers
from Muslim-majority countries for discriminatory visa denials, without
doing anything to protect national security.”
60 days
The
new proposal was published in the Federal Register on Friday. The
public has 60 days to comment on the revised procedures before the OMB
approves or rejects them.
If approved, the measures
also will require applicants to submit five years of previously used
telephone numbers, email addresses and their international travel
history.
They will be asked if they have been deported
or removed from any country and whether family members have been
involved in terrorist activities, the department said.
The department said it intends not to routinely ask most diplomatic and official visa applicants for the additional information.
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