White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday the Homeland Security and State departments have been asked to review the process for screening people who apply for visas and to return with specific recommendations.
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While there now is no explicit order banning visa investigators from trawling applicants’ social media accounts, some agencies have been wary about doing so, the official said.
While there are now currently several test programs underway on how to “incorporate “appropriate” social media reviews”, according to the Associated Press, ABC News quoted a former official as saying that any review of social media accounts by immigration officials had been forbidden under a department policy in 2014.
Now, as social media becomes an increasingly risky weapon in the hands of terrorists and other radicalized individuals, law enforcement agents will more closely examine the online activity of individuals seeking entry into the U.S. As per a Wall Street Journal report, the DHS will now “scrutinize social media posts as part of its visa application process before certain people are allowed entry into the nation”.
Malik’s messages have been recovered by FBI brokers investigating whether or not she and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, had been in direct contact with overseas militant organizations and have been directed to hold out the December 2 assault by which 14 individuals have been killed, the Times reported.
Last week, according to Fox News, Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, and Senator Richard Burr, R-NC, introduced legislation that would require social media companies, such as Facebook and Twitter, to report “terrorist activities” – such as recruiting terrorists or planning attacks – to law enforcement.
The move is part of a new focus on the use of social-networking sites following the shooting rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., two weeks ago.
However, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has sent mixed signals, asserting there are “certain legal limits” constraining the review of social media because “we are dealing with private communications”. The pilot programs that are used now do not consider all social media posts. In May 2014, she received a USA visa, despite what the Federal Bureau of Investigation said were extensive social media messages about jihad and martyrdom.
“We request that the Department of Homeland Security and any relevant component agencies produce all documents referring or relating to Tashfeen Malik”, Chaffetz and DeSantis, who chairs the Subcommittee on National Security, wrote in the letter to Johnson on Monday.
Meanwhile, Tea Party Patriots President Jenny Beth Martin said the social media screening lapse demonstrates the need for a new DHS secretary.
Malik was interviewed by USCIS after marrying Farook.
The day after the attack, Facebook found a post on a page maintained by Malik pledging her and Farook’s allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group.
On Capitol Hill, 21 Senate Democrats plus Sen. He also noted that other factors, like a false name or changing privacy settings on an account, would likely be enough to prevent consular officials from discovering incriminating information.
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Questions have been raised over whether the checks carried out before allowing Malik into the country were thorough enough after it emerged she had been posting extremist messages online for years before applying for the documents.
