Legislation was introduced in the House Friday that would require the Department of Homeland Security to screen the social media profiles of immigrants.
“Political correctness is no longer an option,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla. “The war on terror is evolving as radical Islamic jihadists use the Internet and social media sites to communicate, fundraise, and recruit.”
The “Social Media Screening For Terrorists Act” act would require DHS to “search all public records, including Internet sites and social media profiles” to determine if applicants are eligible for admission to the country.
In a voice vote on Wednesday, the House passed similar legislation sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, that would require the president to “transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on United States strategy to combat terrorists’ and terrorist organizations’ use of social media.”
Poe’s legislation did not dictate specifics of the prospective policy, only that it be articulated. The Obama administration has maintained confidential policies regarding the process DHS uses to screen immigrants, one of which precluded the use of social media. Congressional support for the administration’s policy, if it exists, has been mute. It remains to be seen if Poe’s legislation will pass with the same consensus.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in addition to dozens of congressional Democrats, have called for the policy to be changed in light of reports that at least one perpetrator in the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., posted extremist content on Facebook prior to immigrating to the United States.
An internal DHS memo that emerged on Thursday suggested the policy has been in place since at least 2011, a charge the administration has denied.
“There is no, nor has there ever been, a secret policy prohibiting the use of social media for vetting,” Leon Rodriguez, director of Citizenship and Immigration Services at DHS, told the House Oversight Committee Thursday.
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Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., expressed hope that was the case. “I think it’s entirely reasonable to ask people who are coming from troubled areas or countries that support terrorism for their social media accounts,” Lynch said.
