U.S. to Begin Collecting Social Media Information on All Immigrants

Starting October 18, as part of a new tracking system, the Department of Homeland Security will collect social media and internet data on U.S. immigrants, including lawful permanent residents, and naturalized citizens.  This new plan will coincide with the start of the White House’s new travel restrictions on citizens from Chad, Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela.

The data collection plan covers things like Facebook and Twitter, and potentially even Google search results.  All of the data collected will be placed into the person’s “alien file,” a record kept by Homeland Security on every person in the United States who was not born in the country.  The new rule, as listed in the Federal Register, says that data will come from