The Department of Homeland Security still isn’t consistently screening social media accounts that belong to visa applicants, a top official told senators on Tuesday, though it has been happening more regularly.
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“In all our investigations and reviews, we use social media to the extent that the evidence leads us there,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldana told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. “In the visa screening process in particular, there is no bar to our use of it. There are occasions where we do.
“We might … review a person’s social media to determine whether we should have further study or recommend a negative result to the Department of State” on whether to grant a visa, she added. “We have that under our current authorities, and we have no problem using it, when a case indicates the need.”
The issue has been a source of controversy since it was reported that the perpetrators of California’s terrorist attack in December may have been stopped ahead of time if officials had screened their social media accounts. Syed Rizwan Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, came to the United States from Pakistan on a K-1 fiancee visa.
David Donahue, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department, said his department had a similar policy. “We use it when we see that there is a reason to look further into [a] case,” Donahue said. He added that state had also begun a pilot program targeting fiance visas from “countries of concern.”
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At least two pieces of legislation proposed in the House in December would require DHS to put its policies on social media screening in writing, though both bills have failed to move. Agency officials have insisted that they do have working policies in place, even if Congress isn’t aware of them.
