DHS will look at your Facebook activity before granting an entry visa

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson decided in early 2014 to continue barring immigration officials from reviewing social media posts of people trying to enter the US on a visa, The Hill reports.

“The Department of Homeland Security has been, at the direct order of the president of the United States, has been working with the State Department to review the K1 Visa program, and they’ve acknowledged that part of that review is to consider ways to incorporate the use of social media vetting in their screening programs”, Earnest told reporters.

The Department of Homeland Security says it began three pilot programs in 2014 to examine whether screening social media was consistent with current laws and privacy protections.

“Had they checked out Tashfeen Malik, maybe those people in San Bernardino would be alive”.

Hold on a second – The New York Times thinks it might be okay to not review social media posts because it might be hard to distinguish between anti-American rhetoric opposed to our special ops forces killing Osama bin Laden and jihadists who want to murder all Americans? ISIS and other organizations have been known to use social media to communicate and recruit.

Social media is everywhere, and now the USA government is zeroing in. The pilot programs that are used now do not consider all social media posts.

The White House announced Monday it is reviewing how immigrants are screened. A review of the broader policy is already underway, the DHS said.

Malik also reportedly had a longer history of posting messages under a pseudonym that expressed support for waging jihad.

The revelation comes as members of Congress question why US officials failed to review the social media posts of San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik.

But only after the December 2 attack, in which she and Farook killed 14 people, did investigators find that she had discussed violent jihad on social media prior to her visa approval, officials say.

Standard visa applications are handled by the U.S. Department of State, but the DHS frequently cooperates with the State Department in processing visas, and probes certain applications if they show any red flags, or if the applicant is traveling from a volatile nation which may pose national security concerns.

The Los Angeles Times also reported that the search of a San Bernardino lake near the shooting scene turned up nothing that could be linked back to the couple.

GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona has introduced legislation requiring social media checks, and earlier, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the House Judiciary Committee was crafting similar legislation.

Two U.S. officials said that Malik’s pre-visa jihadist messages were missed because she’d sent them privately to her sister’s Facebook page and were not posted publicly.