Washington, DC:
Green card holders living in America may soon be required to surrender their social media accounts to the government under a new proposal by President Donald Trump administration’s as part of their crackdown on immigration. Visa applicants living abroad are already required to share their social media handles with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Now, under the new proposal, the policy will expand to those already living legally in America and are applying for permanent residency or seeking asylum.
The move could potentially allow the White House to bar critics from making the United States their home. It will affect many Indians living legally in America and are active contributors to Indian and US politics. The increased scrutiny from the government could discourage these people from speaking on political matters online due to the risk of negative consequences.
Reason Behind The Move
In a notice released on March 5, the Trump administration announced that it’s seeking public comment on its plan, saying USCIS has “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 document said that the vetting of social media accounts was necessary for “enhanced identity verification, vetting and national security screening.”
How Green Card Holders Will Be Affected
The plan is an extension of a current policy that mandates visa applicants abroad to provide their social media handles. The proposal is to extend the scrutiny to already existing residents who are lawfully present in the country, including those with green cards and asylum seekers who are applying for permanent residence.
The increased social media vetting comes amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement, including closer scrutiny of green card and visa holders.
Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
Since coming to power for the second time, Trump’s hardline approach to deporting immigrants has intensified America’s already stark partisan divide.
On January 20, his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to team up to fight “an invasion” of illegal immigrants. He cast the nation’s estimated 11 million immigrants in the US illegally as the driving factor behind crime, gang violence and drug trafficking – assertions not supported by government statistics, and accused immigrants of draining US government resources and depriving citizens of jobs.
Almost immediately, federal law enforcement started posting photos of the crackdown to social media: agents wore body armor and jackets emblazoned with names of multiple agencies – including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, known as ATF – during raids on immigrants without proper legal status.