U.S. immigration officials are asking the public and other federal agencies to share their thoughts on a plan to collect social media usernames from people applying for benefits like green cards or citizenship. This is part of following an order from President Donald Trump.
The notice, posted on March 5, has caused concern among immigration and free speech supporters. They worry it expands the government’s ability to watch people’s social media, including those who are already in the U.S. legally, such as asylum seekers, green card holders, and citizenship applicants. These groups have already gone through background checks. Social media checks by immigration officials are not new, though. They’ve been around for over ten years, starting during President Obama’s second term and becoming more common during Trump’s first term.
Here are some common questions and answers about what this new plan means and how it might change social media checks.
What is the plan?
The Department of Homeland Security shared a notice asking people to give feedback for 60 days. This is part of meeting the demands of Trump’s order called “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.” The order talks about having the same vetting rules for everyone and checking for reasons someone might not be allowed into the U.S. It also involves confirming people’s identities and doing security checks. The plan wants to gather social media usernames and the platforms they’re used on — but not the passwords.
If approved, the new rule would make it necessary for people to list their social media usernames when applying for things like U.S. citizenship, green cards, asylum, and other immigration benefits. The government will accept public comments about this plan until May 5.
What is different now?
Rachel Levinson-Waldman, who works with the Liberty and National Security Program at NYU’s Brennan Center, explained that currently, people applying for immigrant and non-immigrant visas already have to give their social media usernames.
She said the new plan would affect people who came to the U.S. before this rule started. These people didn’t have to give their usernames before but now will be required to. Others may have shared their social media info before, but their usage may have changed since then.
She added that this new rule is much broader and would now include everyone asking for immigration benefits, even if they’ve already been through detailed checks.
Levinson-Waldman pointed out that this, along with other government actions — like detaining people or canceling student visas for joining protests that are viewed as antisemitic or supportive of the group Hamas — shows that social media is being used more and more to make serious decisions about people’s future.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the goal is to better find fraud, stop identity theft, and improve their ability to run strong background checks.
The statement added that this is meant to keep out anyone who could harm public safety, put national security at risk, or spread anti-American beliefs. The agency believes this new rule will apply to around 3.6 million people.
How is social media used now?
The U.S. started using social media more for immigration checks in 2014, during Obama’s time in office. In late 2015, the Department of Homeland Security started testing both manual and automatic ways of checking the social media accounts of certain people who wanted to visit the U.S.
In May 2017, the U.S. Department of State sent out a notice saying it would increase how it checks visa applicants. Groups like the Brennan Center and others spoke out against it. They said the policy was too much, unclear, and would scare people from speaking freely. They also said it unfairly targeted Muslims and didn’t really improve security.
By 2019, the State Department had started collecting social media usernames from almost every foreigner applying for a U.S. visa. That’s around 15 million people a year.
The OpenAI logo appears on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with random binary dataHow is AI used in this process?
Artificial intelligence tools that check social media have gotten more advanced in the past ten years, but experts say these tools have limits and can make mistakes.
Leon Rodriguez, who led USCIS from 2014 to 2017 and now works as an immigration lawyer, said that AI could be helpful for a first round of checks. Still, he believes AI can’t yet match the judgment of a trained officer or someone working in intelligence.
He added that AI might miss important things. This is because it relies on specific search terms, and if the terms don’t match the right posts, it could miss key information.
What are the concerns?
Levinson-Waldman said social media is full of all kinds of information — some true, some not. Some posts are clearly linked to one person, others aren’t. And figuring out what something really means can be very tricky.
So she believes using social media to make big decisions about someone’s life is a serious issue.
There are also questions about free speech.
She explained that people in the U.S. — even if they’re not citizens — usually have First Amendment rights, including the right to free speech. While there are exceptions, the government is not supposed to punish someone for saying things that are protected by the First Amendment. However, the government still has wide power in immigration cases and can sometimes cancel someone’s visa.
