US Ordered 'Mandatory Social Media Check' For Visa Applicants Who Visited ISIS Territory (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered a "mandatory social media check" on all visa applicants who have ever visited ISIS-controlled territory, according to diplomatic cables obtained by Reuters. The four memos were sent to American diplomatic missions over the past two weeks, with the most recent issued on March 17th. According to Reuters, they provide details into a revised screening process that President Donald Trump has described as "extreme vetting." A memo sent on March 16th rescinds some of the instructions that Tillerson outlined in the previous cables, including an order that would have required visa applicants to hand over all phone numbers, email addresses, and social media accounts that they have used in the past. The secretary of state issued the memo after a Hawaii judge blocked the Trump administration's revised travel ban on citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries. In addition to the social media check, the most recent memo calls for consular officials to identify "populations warranting increased scrutiny." Two former government officials tell Reuters that the social media order could lead to delays in processing visa applications, with one saying that such checks were previously carried out on rare occasions.
*ever*???
Personally, I know I wouldn't even be able to begin to comply with this kind of demand. I don't remember all of the old phone numbers I've had. All social media accounts? Does that include aliases on bulletin board systems from the 1980's? Again, I couldn't comply because I don't remember them all. I probably have about a half dozen expired email accounts at old internet service providers, some of which don't even exist anymore, where I can maybe remember half of them.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
You need a visa to return to the US after vacation? Or did you miss that part of the full title.
Non-citizens who want to take a vacation with our enemies have volunteered for a little extra scrutiny when they then want to visit us.
Admission of non-citizens into the US is not a right and is not subject to due process. Non-citizens can be denied entry for arbitrary reasons, not just in the US but also in all other countries on the planet. How do I know? I have lived in half a dozen countries and immigrated to the US.
Even as a citizen, you can be searched at the border.
The "ignorance and group think" is people like you who confuse legal protections of citizens with immigration procedures.
Quite apart from the legal issues, the NAACP stands up for the rights and advancement of a population that suffers from, on average, lower education, lower skills, and lower incomes. What possible reason would the NAACP have to advocate the admission into the US of even more people who compete for already scarce low skill jobs?
I doubt it. This is just another example of "something must be done" - spinning wheels to show that there is action but not actually going anywhere.
It's just going to piss off a lot of people and make Bin Laden's ghost laugh at how even the people who like the USA enough to actually want to visit are being encouraged to hate it by little Hitlers on border duty.
You're literally worse than the stinking Communists that actually let me visit my West German grandfather.
Ezekiel 23:20
But shouldn't Saudi Arabia top that list, followed by Turkey and only then Iran and any other 'extremist' countries?
America's bedfellows are the biggest terrorist supporters in the Middle East, bar none.