A secret policy in place at least through the fall of 2014 reportedly prohibited US immigration officials from analyzing social media activity as part of the screening process for foreign nationals applying for visas.
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“During that time period immigration officials were not allowed to use or review social media as part of the screening process”, Cohen told ABC News.
Cohen said he and other USA officials had pressed for a policy change in 2014 but top officials with the DHS’s Office of Civil Liberties and the Office of Privacy opposed it.
The day that she and her husband killed 14 people in San Bernadino, Ca., Tashfeen Malik “pledged allegiance” to ISIS on Facebook.
“There is no excuse for not using every resource at our disposal to fully vet individuals before they come to the United States”, he added.
Authorities have said Malik and Farook exchanged messages about jihad and martyrdom online before they were married and while she was living in Pakistan. According to the Wall Street Journal, the federal department wants to parse social media posts to determine if visa candidates might pose a threat to national security. None uncovered what Malik talked about openly on social media.
On Sunday, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded that immigration officials immediately begin a program to review social media sites of people admitted to the US on visas, according to ABC.
“Had they checked out Tashfeen Malik”, the senator said, “maybe those people in San Bernardino would be alive”.
Cohen told “Good Morning America” the Obama administration decided not to inform the public of the policy because officials feared it “would be embarrassing”.
Over the previous year, under Secretary Johnson’s leadership, the Department initiated three pilot programs to specifically incorporate appropriate social media review into its vetting of applicants for certain immigration benefits.
President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the K-1 visa program, which will look at whether immigration officials could conduct more extensive background checks without significantly slowing down the process, according to The Times. A review of the broader policy is already underway, the DHS said. “The arguments being made were, and are still, in bad faith”. The idea that reviewing what someone has posted online publicly would be considered an invasion of privacy is another example of the absurdity of our bureaucracy and a willful ignorance about the actual meanings of words.
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“If we don’t look and don’t review, we don’t know”, he said. Malik received her visa in May of 2014. “And that will continue to be the case with ensuring that this K-1 visa program is effectively implemented, consistent with the law and consistent with the values we hold dear in this country”.
