Now Entire Social Media Accounts of Immigrants will be Monitored: DHS
The U.S Department of Homeland Security recently presented a new rule in the U.S Federal Register and it will take into effect in the coming month. The new update has indicated that dependable government electronic documents are the part of official records about immigrants. The DHS is now looking to conduct more actions of immigrants in an electronic environment. Point to be noted that DHS has planned to add new categories in the official records, including search results, aliases, social media handling, and associated identifiable information. The collection of social media information will not be limited to new immigrants, but it will also be essential to entire immigrants including naturalized citizens and permanent residents. Incorporating the social media information into the records of immigrant is a one way.
The DHS started working in 2015 on a plan to add social media searches into visa application. The department proposed and implemented a new section in 2016 in the travel form for entire foreign visitors arriving to the U.S under the visa waiver program. In the month of February 2017, the DHS announced that the department has planned to start asking visitors from travel ban list of countries to mention their social account names and their passwords. The U.S Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ordered in March 2017 for social media checks on entire visa applicants who previously visited ISIS controlled areas. In the month of March 2017, Trump administration proposed a plan and presented an expanded visa applicant questionnaire in the month of June 2017. It asks entire immigrants and visa applicants for their all social media accounts used in the past 5 years.