She said she supported it. And she said she wanted to be a part of it, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Even so, she passed three background checks by immigration officials. In 2011, on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, she posted a remark on Facebook beside a photo of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center that could be interpreted as anti-American. He didn’t specify what changes were going to be made. That despite the reportedly inflammatory social media posts and her reported association with radical elements as a student in Pakistan. Of more than 9.9 million visas issued in fiscal 2014, just 35,925 – roughly 0.3 percent – were fiance visas, according to State Department figures.
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A lot of the focus is on rooting out union fraud. A couple must prove they have physically seen each other within the past two years, unless meeting in person would violate “strict and long-established customs” or cause an “extreme hardship”. And female applicants are generally subject to less scrutiny than male applicants. In that last step, officers can include a social media search, federal officials said.
Had authorities found the messages when Malik applied a year ago for a K-1 fiancee visa to come to the US with her husband, Syed Farook, she likely would not have been approved for entry.
In the social media era, it seems impossible that something like a supportive tweet or post would go unnoticed during the vetting process. But the screenings are an example of the trade-offs that security officials make as they try to mitigate the threat of terrorism while keeping borders open for business and travel.
“In cases where those lists do not strike, there is nothing that differentiates them from folks we’d love to welcome to this state”. First, her name was assessed by Homeland Security against law enforcement and national security databases. After coming to the USA and formally marrying Farook here, she applied for her green card and received another round of criminal and security checks. But FBI Director James Comey has said there was no evidence the militant group was aware of them before the attack. They cautioned that such searches, particularly one in a bustling public park, tend to dredge up debris from many sources, and that investigators still have to determine the value of what was found. In a brief telephone interview, her sister Fehda Malik said that Tashfeen was not an extremist, and she rejected the allegations against her sister.
Monday, the Obama administration is reviewing the plan, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said. “That is the existing practice as we speak”. “She knew what was right and what was wrong”, Fehda Malik said.
Ms. Malik faced three extensive national security and criminal background screenings.
Immigration officials doing background checks of people who want to settle in the United States have not been routinely reviewing social media, the report added.
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Search teams in San Bernardino are still trying to trace the digital footprints of Malik and Farook. The divers pulled items from the murky waters of the lake, which they have been scouring since Thursday.
