U.S. looks to scour foreign tourists’ social media : NPR

The Trump administration is proposing new rules that would further tighten controls on who is allowed into the U.S. and asking visitors from several dozen countries that benefit from visa waivers to hand over their social media history and other personal information.

The new terms were announced in notification from the Department of Homeland Security earlier this week and are open to public comment and review for 60 days before taking effect.

The proposed measure applies to citizens of 42 EU countries. visa waiver program and they do not currently require visas for tourism or business visits to the United States. These foreign nationals will now be required to provide five years of data on their social media activity in order to be considered for entry.

They will also have to provide email addresses they have used in the last 10 years, as well as telephone numbers and home addresses of immediate family members. Officials will also be able to scrutinize the IP addresses and metadata of photos sent electronically.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the social media mandate follows President Trump's January executive order. decree “to protect our citizens from foreigners who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, support hateful ideologies, or otherwise abuse immigration laws for malicious purposes.” However, they did not identify what type of online activity might pose a threat.

Under the current visa waiver program, tourists can bypass the visa application process, which can take months to years. Instead, they pay $40 and apply online using the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA. It is available to citizens of US allied countries including Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the UK. But the system could also be subject to an overhaul if the latest changes come into effect. The notice suggests that you stop using online applications and switch to a mobile-only platform.

It's the latest step in the Trump administration's tightening of restrictions and surveillance on international travelers, foreign students and immigrants. In June, the State Department announced the start checking the accounts of foreign students on social networks. Earlier this month, the agency instructed its staff to reject visa applications — primarily H-1B — from people who worked on fact checkingcontent moderation or other actions, calling it “censorship” of American speech.

These latest proposed changes are not much different from those already in place for visa applicants, Marissa Montes, a Loyola Law School professor and director of the Immigration Justice Clinic, told NPR.

“The government could always ask for this and has asked in the past,” Montes said. “The question is how will it be [ESTA applicants] pass a CPB check? Will this be something they will have to provide in advance or will it be an officer at the gate? We still don’t know how the administration is going to implement this.”

In the past, she said such checks were carried out at the point of entry and that it was “always the discretion of the officer to ask for it or not.”

Most troubling, Montes added, is that there are no clear guidelines defining what qualifies as harmful in the United States.

“The problem is that when it comes to immigration policies and directives like these, they are very broad and discretionary, meaning that the agent receiving that order has a lot of leeway to then interpret what could be seen as un-American,” she said. “But we've seen it interpreted as anything that goes against the Trump administration or goes against the values ​​of the Trump administration.”

Montes said she advises her clients to be mindful not only of their own online posts, but also of posts they have liked, commented on and reposted, which could be grounds for denial or even a permanent ban from entering the United States. For example, if someone posts about random drug use or photos of firearms, they could be seen as a potential threat to the government. Agents also look for posts that could be interpreted as pro-socialist or communist, she said.

She cautions people not to completely eliminate their social media presence, saying it has “become a red flag” for officials.

“Our immigration laws prohibit certain types of behavior due to immigration bias… so you really need to be careful about what you put out there,” she warned. “As I always tell my clients, if I can find the information, surely the government can too.”