Trump Wants Green Card Applicants Already Legally In The U.S. To Hand Over Social Media Profiles: ‘Chilling effect on free speech’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-green-card-applicants-social-media-b2720180.html

28 comments

  1. As per [original article](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-green-card-applicants-social-media-b2720180.html) 📰:

    – USCIS said the vetting of social media accounts is necessary for “the enhanced identity verification, vetting and national security screening.” Critics say it crushes free speech.

    The Trump administration’s proposal to vet social media profiles of green card applicants already legally in the U.S. has been condemned in initial public feedback as an attack on free speech.

    Visa applicants living abroad already have to share their social media handles with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, but the proposal under President Donald Trump would expand the policy to those already legally in the country who are applying for permanent residency or seeking asylum.

    USCIS said the vetting of social media accounts is necessary for “the enhanced identity verification, vetting and national security screening.”

    The agency also said it was necessary to comply with Trump’s executive order titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”

    “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 agency announced on March 5.

    The agency is collecting feedback from the public on the proposal until May 5, the majority of which are overwhelmingly opposed at the time of writing.

    “So the US is heading for authoritarian now,” an anonymous commenter said. “Anything that the current administration doesn’t like means bad. Pure ideology means total destruction. This is a violation to the First Amendment.”

    “Chilling Effect on Free Speech: The fear of government scrutiny of online expression will undoubtedly stifle free speech,” another comment read. “This is particularly concerning for individuals from countries with different political climates, who may fear the misinterpretation of their online activity.”

    Out of the 143 comments, 29 mentioned a violation of free speech. “This policy undermines the fundamental values that make America a beacon of freedom, including free speech, privacy, and human rights,” another person wrote.

    The proposal follows the detention of green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, labeled “pro-Hamas” by the Trump administration, and the deportation of Brown University doctor, Rasha Alawieh, a H1-B visa holder. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials inspected the kidney medic’s phone and determined she followed the religious teachings of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They also claimed she “openly admitted” attending his funeral while in Lebanon.

    Civil rights groups have raised concerns that the policy proposal would disproportionately impact critics of Israel and the U.S. government’s handling of the conflict.

    “This policy would disparately impact Muslim and Arab applicants seeking U.S. citizenship that have voiced support for Palestinian human rights,” Robert McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Intercept. “Collecting the social media identifiers of any potential green card applicants or citizens is the means to silencing their lawful speech.”

    McCaw added that he also worried that people’s activity would be continuously monitored on social media even if they became U.S. citizens.

    The new proposal comes as the Internal Revenue Service is close to an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow officials to use confidential tax data to confirm names and addresses of people they suspect are in the country illegally, according to the Washington Post.

    ICE could submit names of suspected illegal immigrants to the IRS so the agency can cross-reference on confidential taxpayer databases, according to insiders. The agreement has “alarmed” career IRS officials who fear it risks abusing a privacy law intended to build criminal cases, “not enforce criminal penalties,” the newspaper reports.

    As well as mass deportations, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has turned its attention to green card and visa holders in recent weeks.

    Earlier this month Fabian Schmidt, a 34-year-old German electrical engineer, who has held a green card since 2008, was arrested and detained at Boston Logan International Airport.

    And a Milwaukee mother who is a permanent U.S resident and lived here since she was eight-months old was deported to Laos, a country she’d never been to previously, after agreeing to a plea deal over cannabis charges.

  2. The Constitution isn’t available to everyone anymore.

  3. I want the rapist Trump to turn over the Epstein files unredacted….

  4. Everyday this malignant narcissistic sociopathic grifter just throws out shit to mess with people. He keeps testing the bounds, you say the bounds are 10, he goes to 15. You say 15 he goes to 30, you say 30 he goes to 50 etc. He knows he won’t get everything, but that’s not his intention. His intention is to mess with your head, to bully you and to see what he can get away with. Now that the Supreme Court has said no matter what he does he’s immune he brings on chumps, idiots, morons, and miscreants to pack his administration knowing full well that they don’t know shit either and when and if they need to be thrown under the bus and blamed for any problem he can do so.

  5. 100% PURE DICTATORSHIP. Congratulations USA, you’re now part of the “Axis of Evil”.

  6. It starts with immigrants and will expand to everyone soon. Very soon.

  7. He will eventually stage a military conflict to justify declaring martial law and suspension of votes.

  8. He needs to shut his fucking pie hole. Goddamn Supreme Court created this fucking mess. John Roberts needs to be hauled in front of the Senate.

  9. This is where all decent US citizens have to stand up together and completely and utterly destroy the Trump administration and all of its evil associates and toadies all over social media. Just make it a constant stream of justified criticism and vitriol, at such a high level that it actually trains all AI using social media data to be anti-MAGA for all perpetuity.

    “Donald Trump is a rapist and felon who pathetically hopes to be a fascist.” should start every post. Constantly. So repetitively that it becomes an automatic association in everyone’s mind, forever, and actually pushes all algorithms in the correct direction.

    “I went and had a wonderful day playing with my dog in the park. Donald Trump is a rapist and felon who pathetically hopes to be a fascist.”

  10. Guide to becoming an authoritarian
    1. Replace everyone with people loyal only to you
    2. Take over congress role
    3. Limit free speech to only positive things said about you
    4. Focus on a common enemy (immigrants)
    5. Turn everything to private sector so a few friends get rich and keeps the poor poor

  11. The only correct response is “fuck you, you rapist felon.”

  12. WTF? Where are these dont tread on me fucks?

    Lmao just come out and say what all this is. You racist fucks have little dicks and fear your own shadows.

  13. Soon he’ll be selling a subscription service to be allotted access to the protections of the constitution like he’s selling citizenship. It’ll be a premium membership, sponsored by *Tesla*

  15. Curious if an applicant that espouses right wing ideology and racism would get the green light.

  16. “I refuse to grant free speech to anyone I don’t like even if they are US citizens. Everyone must worship me.” – DJT

  18. This is only the start.
    They will go after everyone on social media.

  19. Remember when the US bitched non-stop about China’s social media policies?

    Turns out they were just jealous

  20. R.I.P “He’s not a dictator bullshit”

    You fucking morons. We told you

  23. I remember about a month or so before the election, we had a few (presumably) European visitors on r/Houston stating that they received a job offer etc., and they wanted to know about Houston. I responded that I would wait to see how the election turned out and I was down voted and some even said I was overreacting (more or less). …and here we are. I hope these people did not take the jobs they were offered. We have become the dumpster fire of the western world.

  24. free speech in Germany but not here, right vance?

  25. First migrants – now green card holders – us folks with US birth certificates will be next.

  26. Hey, can any trump supporter pop in here and explain to me why they would support this? Please?

  27. I can already hear the people on my local newspaper Facebook page comment section. “Green card holders aren’t citizens they don’t have the same rights as the rest of us”

    They just keep moving goalposts on everything he does. It’s either always not that bad or he’s just trolling snowflake.

  28. WHen are Americans actually going to rise up and protest this Orange turd? You yanks keep telling the world about your land of the free and home of the brave bullshit. But it honestly looks like land of imprisoned and home of the gutless.

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