The US Border Patrol Is Checking Detainees' Facebook Profiles (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader quotes CNET: Border patrol agents are checking the Facebook accounts of people who are being held in limbo for approval to enter the U.S., according to a Saturday tweet by immigration lawyer Mana Yegani that was spotted by The Independent... Yegani, who is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told CNET that checking phones has been reported by other lawyers as part of the vetting process. "[G]oing through passengers phones from the seven banned countries happens when the individual is interrogated (put under extreme vetting)," Yegani said.

Yegani told The Independent that she and other lawyers have been fielding calls from people who are already cleared to live in America, but are getting stuck at the border regardless. "These are people that are coming in legally. They have jobs here and they have vehicles here," Yegani said in the report.
The EFF warns that "Fourth Amendment protection is not as strong at the border as it is in your home or office. This means that law enforcement can inspect your computer or electronic equipment, even if they have no reason to suspect there is anything illegal on it. An international airport, even if many miles from the actual border, is considered the functional equivalent of a border."

Comments

Re:Well, yes. As they should.

[MightyMartian]

Like any power, it's a good thing when used sensibly, but becomes a bad thing if used in an overly-broad fashion. I think to some extent even the White House sees that, which is why Priebus backed down on Green Card holders. Yes, it will stop Syrian refugees from coming in, so I suppose that's a campaign promise kept, though the nature of Trump's rhetoric during the campaign suggested a much broader Muslim entry ban, so it seems odd that countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, country that have all produced terrorists, don't have the same restrictions that a bunch of people who have been bombed out of their homes by a civil war suddenly have thrown on them.

But since Trump's base seems pretty irrational, I don't imagine one should expect Trump to be any better. He truly is the reflection of Breitbart America; paranoid, irrational, hate-filled and generally in some intense of state of panic.