Federal officials might review the phone records and internet habits of visa applicants as part of the “extreme vetting” President Trump wants to apply to individuals seeking to travel from several terror-stricken countries.
“We have to be convinced that people who come here, there is a reasonable expectation that we know who they are, and what they’re coming here for, and what their backgrounds are,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told reporters Tuesday.
Kelly reiterated that Trump’s order — which suspended most travel from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen — is “not a ban on Muslims,” contrary to Democratic characterizations of the order. “Religious liberty is one of our most fundamental and treasured values,” he said.
Instead, he argued that the 90-day travel suspension is aimed at countries that don’t have the public institutions required to conduct customary background checks. “There are many countries, seven that we’re dealing with right now, that in our view, in my view, don’t have the kind of law enforcement records-keeping, that kind of thing, that can convince us that one of their citizens is indeed who that citizen says they are and what their background might be,” said Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general who led the U.S. military in South America.
He said that DHS is still researching the alternative background check process, which will likely include researching social media and phone records.
“Extreme vetting, we’re looking at various options right now,” Kelly said. “When someone comes in and asks for consideration to get a visa, it might be certainly an accounting of what websites they visit, it might be telephone contact information so that we can see who they’re talking to. But again, all of this is under development.”
