First spotted by News, the statement from the Trump regime was published in the Federal Register. The new policy will not only allow DHS to collect data about an immigrant’s Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook records, but it also suggests all “search results.” It’s not instantly clear if that means the agency will have entrance to things such as Google search histories nor is it clear how that would be obtained.
The Department of Homeland Security, therefore, is refreshing the “Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection-001 Alien File, Index, and National File Tracking System of Records notice to:
Expand the sections of records to include the understanding: country of nationality; country of residence; the USCIS Online Account Number; social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search events; and the Department of Justice (DOJ), Executive Office for Immigration Review and Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings data
Update record cause categories to include openly available information gathered from the internet, public records, public institutions, interviewees, commercial data providers, and information collected and disclosed compatible to information sharing agreements.
The term “information sharing agreements” isn’t specified in the policy, but it could conceivably cover both the types of monitoring agreements that the US has with nations like the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand under Five Eyes, as well as the agreements that DHS has with corporations like Google and internet service providers.
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