The Trump administration is planning to collect the social media information of immigrants entering the United States, a move that could help law enforcement better detect extremist activity.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency tasked with approving green cards and providing other immigration benefits, is proposing to collect social media information as part of the migrant application process, per a notice posted by the Federal Register.
“In a review of information collected for admission and benefit decisions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) identified the need to collect social media identifiers (“handles”) and associated social media platform names from applicants to enable and help inform identity verification, national security and public safety screening, and vetting, and related inspections,” the USCIS notice stated.
The agency stated that the directive is necessary in order to comply with an executive order signed Jan. 20 by President Donald Trump, which called for the rigorous collection of background information during the vetting of migrant applicants.
The order directs federal agencies to implement enhanced vetting and screening of all foreign nationals seeking to enter the U.S. or already present, particularly migrants hailing from countries with identified security risks.
“It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,” the order states.
If the government identifies problematic information or other factors, the administration may then restrict those seeking entry into the U.S. and remove those already in the country.
Foreign nationals sympathetic to terrorist causes have a history of making extremist statements online.
The FBI arrested Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an Egyptian national living in northern Virginia, in December for allegedly operating multiple online accounts that praised Al-Qaeda and ISIS. By the time of Hassan’s arrest, he was allegedly plotting a “mass casualty” attack against an Israeli consulate in New York City and had given advice to an FBI source on how to create a martyrdom video.
In October, the FBI arrested Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, an Afghan national accused of plotting an Election Day terrorist attack against the U.S. Authorities discovered Tawhedi — who gained entry into the U.S. through a special immigrant visa in September 2021 amid the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul — allegedly participated in a pro-ISIS Telegram group and liquidated his assets in preparation for the assault.
The Trump administration has taken numerous other steps to tighten immigration enforcement, such as the deployment of troops at the U.S.-Mexico border and the resumption of border wall construction. The White House has also marshaled the resources of virtually every other federal agency to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents identify and arrest criminal illegal migrants across the country.
The public has 60 days to provide comment on the USCIS plan to collect migrants’ social media information.
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