Trump Administration to Look at Immigrants’ Social Media Accounts

Thao Tran from Vietnam at a naturalization ceremony for America’s 100 newest citizens near the Mansion takes place during Independence day events at President George Washington’s historic home in Mount Vernon, Va., on July 4, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is proposing that immigrants be required for the first time to provide information about their social media accounts as part of the application process for U.S. citizenship and other immigration-related benefits.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants to collect social media user names—but not passwords—for at least 19 platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, China’s Tencent Weibo, and Russia’s VKontakte, on specific electronic and paper forms, according to NextGov.