Comment on US immigration service wants social media handles of visa applicants
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks agoIf you’re on US soil, you have a constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, and the law is very clear about what you must provide and in what circumstances. It varies a little by area, but even in “stop and ID” states, cops generally need “reasonable suspicion” (strict legal definition) that you have, are about to, or are in the process of committing a crime. ID is limited to state issued ID, and in many areas you don’t even need to provide that, only verbally assert your name and DOB.
If the government wants additional information from me, they need an arrest and/or warrant. Or they can do their own investigation without an arrest or warrant.
Those constitutional protections should apply to visa applicants as well. If the government wants additional data, they should do a background check. They should not be able to demand things unnecessary to process the visa application like social media handles, groups they associate with, etc, because that’s a constitutional violation.
Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Explain to me why this should apply to a visa applicant? They are not here yet, they are still within their country and want to enter here so your “on American soil” argument doesn’t make sense. Seems pretty reasonable to me to be actually vetting people who enter a country. By actual investigative means and not arbitrary ones.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Yes, we should absolutely be vetting people, but we should also be following the law. They should be able to ask for extra information, but applicants should be informed that they are not obligated to provide it, and decisions should not be based on whether that information is provided. However, it could be decided based on whether the immigration officer has enough information to approve or deny entry, and that extra information could be useful in tipping that balance (i.e. if they can’t find your SM and found other sketchy stuff).
What kind of a message does it send if we have different standards depending on which side of the border you’re on? That’s incredibly dumb.