The visa screening process has come under review by the Homeland Security and State departments, after it emerged that one of the shooters in this month’s San Bernardino, CA, attack had immigrated to the United States on a “fiancé visa” – and that she has posted troubling evidence of radicalization on social media long before she was approved for the visa.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reviewing its policies on accessing social media.
Cohen, who left DHS in June 2014, told ABC News, “Immigration, security, law enforcement officials recognized at the time that it was important to more extensively review public social media postings because they offered potential insights into whether somebody was an extremist or potentially connected to a terrorist organization or a supporter of the movement”.
On the day of the shooting, she reportedly pledged her allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State terror group on a Facebook account registered under a false name, the Journal said.
“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.
Tashfeen Malik is pictured in this undated handout photo provided by the FBI, December 4, 2015. Earnest however did not provide the specifics of the security review for visas, but did say that one consideration was resources.
The House has passed bills to require tougher certification for the 10,000 Syrian refugees Mr. Obama has said the USA will accept this year, to tighten the visa waiver program to insist that risky foreign visitors go through in-person screenings before entering the US and now the demand for a social media plan.
Authorities are now looking into the visa program, after suggestions the vetting process pertaining to Malik’s application was not as thorough as it should have been.
James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, revealed during a Senate hearing last week that the couple may have even become radicalized earlier. “The primary concern was in that it would be viewed negatively if it was acknowledged publicly and there were concerns in that it would be embarrassing”, Cohen told ABC News source.
“Had they checked out Tashfeen Malik … maybe those people in San Bernardino would be alive”, said Sen.
“We need to find a way to deal with this challenge on social media without violating free expression or privacy concerns”, Democrat Rep. Eliot Engel of NY said.
According to Malik sent the messages to a little group of Pakistani buddies in 2012 and 2014, two top unattributable national law enforcement, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A Facebook spokesman said the company already works to notify law enforcement of certain activity on its site. The possible policy changes are for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency in charge of managing immigration benefits cases and interviewing green card applicants.
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John McCain of Arizona introduced legislation on Tuesday that would require the department to search social media websites and publicly available information of prospective foreign travelers or immigrants seeking to enter the United States.
