The Trump administration may soon scan the social media accounts of green card and citizenship applicants for “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S. or sympathy for terrorists.
Earlier this month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed collecting the social media handles of applicants for naturalization, permanent residence, and asylum, expanding a policy that currently only applies to non-immigrant and immigrant visa applicants.
USCIS, an agency under the Homeland Security Department, said the collection of social media handles is “necessary” to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”
The Day 1 order instructs agencies to ensure that foreign nationals seeking admission to the U.S.—and even those already in the country—are “vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”
“The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists and other threats to our national security,” the order reads.
The directive aligns with the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters and anyone perceived to be critical of the U.S. government.
In recent weeks, immigration officers have detained Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder who led pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University last year. Authorities also denied entry to a French scientist whose private messages “showed hatred towards Trump” and a Canadian actress whose visa got revoked over “unprofessional” letterhead.
Axios earlier reported that the State Department was launching an AI-assisted program aimed at identifying and revoking the visas of foreign nationals deemed by the administration to be supportive of Hamas or other groups designated as terrorists.
USCIS said it reviewed its policies and saw a need to collect social media handles “to help validate an applicant’s identity and determine whether such grant of a benefit poses a security or public-safety threat to the United States.”
Public comments on the proposed policy, which could affect over 3.5 million applicants, will be accepted until May 5.
