United States - General Immigration (2024)

In light of recent news regarding data breaches affecting Facebook users, data-mining apps are not the only entities monitoring social media use these days.

United States Immigration

Keywords: Social Media, Homeland, Security,Immigration

In light of recent news regarding data breaches affectingFacebook users, data-mining apps are not the only entitiesmonitoring social media use these days.

Last fall, the Department of Homeland Security expanded itsdigital monitoring policy in the Federal Register to includeimmigrant "social media handles, aliases, associatedidentifiable information, and search results". While DHSdescribes the announcement as a policy clarification rather than apolicy change, the news escalates the debate concerning governmentuse of social media and the tension between privacy rights, freespeech, and public safety. Concurrently, DHS issued broader access to public-source data inconcert with the intelligence community. Whereas these 2017adoptions indicate recent change, DHS has instituted new practicesin the digital domain over the last two decades. For instance, theDepartment began to evaluate social media more closely in theaftermath of the 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting by two attackerswho had exchanged private online messages, and added optionalrequests for social media use under the Visa Waiver Program in late2016.

Below are a few examples of how US government digital access andmonitoring of social media might impact your immigration path as avisa holder, green card holder, or naturalized citizen:

1. Although the US Citizenship andImmigration Service (USCIS) has monitored public social media usesince 2012, the agency's 2017 announcementestablishes greater ability to weigh your public social media useas a factor in determining your immigration benefits. This does notpermit USCIS to search your social media account or internethistory, but the agency is now collecting and storing records ofyour social media use available in the public domain.
2. This week, US Immigration Customs andEnforcement (ICE) denied allegations that the agency is miningFacebook accounts to conduct administrative arrests. In a press response, ICE reiterated that the agency mayonly search publically available social media content, similar tosearches by other law enforcement agencies.
3. Under a 2009 directive, US Customs & Border Protection(CBP) Officers have the ability to search electronic devices atports of entry and within 100 miles of the border without awarrant. While these searches are rare, CBP can review contentsaved on devices, but cannot search cloud data under US Departmentof Justice guidance.
4. In October, the TransportationSecurity Administration (TSA) implemented new security measures that require airport travelers toplace devices larger than cell phones, and beyond the traditionallaptop, in separate bins for X-ray screening. TSAPre✓^® travelers are excluded from theseheightened searches.
5. Last June, the US Department of Statedeveloped new questions for US visa applicants regardingsocial media use to heighten screening of travelers who might posenational security risks. The questions specifically requests visaapplicants to provide all social media platforms and handlesutilized over the last five years.

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