The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is seeking public comment on a requirement that immigration applications filed by people living in the United States include a section on social media accounts.
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| The US is looking to tighten legal immigration into the country. (Source: Mashable) |
In an effort to strengthen border policies and limit the flow of legal immigrants into the United States, Donald Trump is pushing a bill that would require immigration applicants to provide information about their social media profiles for review by authorities.
The rule is expected to apply to green card applicants, naturalization applicants, asylum seekers, refugees, and relatives of those who have been granted asylum or refugee status. USCIS estimates that the change will affect approximately 3.5 million people.
The US State Department has a policy requiring foreigners applying for visas to publicly disclose their social media history for five years before entering the US.
However, the new USCIS policy will apply to those currently living in the country who need to update or change their residency status.
“These are people who may have lived in the United States for 30, 40 years as green card holders and are applying for citizenship, or people who are living on other visas and want to apply for a green card. This really has a huge effect on people who may have their online speech censored, even though they have every right to be in the country. They may be less likely to express their opinions because they are afraid of being censored, which could lead to a denial of citizenship,” said Saira Hussain, senior attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
USCIS argues that collecting this data will support more “rigorous” vetting of citizenship applicants and modernize the immigration system.
“In reviewing information collected for admission and benefit decisions, USCIS has found it necessary to collect social media identifiers and relevant social media platform names from applicants to support identity verification, national security and public safety checks, and related vetting activities,” the agency said.
The proposal also cites a recent Trump administration Executive Order titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” which calls for increased scrutiny (and denials) in the visa process.
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