Brian Hunt: US immigration lawyer on the US requiring tourists to provide five years of social media data

Few details are known about a possible law to make tourists entering the US provide five years of social media history.

It would affect those currently able to visit visa-free, including New Zealanders, Australians and Brits.

Officials could request social media information, email addresses, phone numbers, and information about family members.

US immigration lawyer Brian Hunt says based on previous policy, we can infer what the US hopes to achieve.

"I think they're looking for pretty extreme language when it comes to anti-Semitism - and then they also said they're vetting for anti-American activity." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Why if you get into the US next year for
a holiday, you might have to give border officials the
your social media details first. So the Americans, the White
House wants people from visa waiver countries like ours to
disclose five years of social media history. This is part
of getting your stra application. So it's just tourism. You're
not moving there, it's tourism. Brian Hunt is a US

(00:23):
immigration lawyer formerly with Homeland Security.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Brian, Hello, good day, Ryan, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Do they want in terms of what they want from
my social media account? Will they want passwords or is
this all just public page information?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Well, what they're asking for is disclosure of the identifiers
for social media, and it doesn't go into the kind
of detail to say whether there or looking for anything
anything that has passwords. But if we look at what's

(01:06):
been happening with social media at other US agencies, for example,
when students are applying for a student visa to come
to the United States, they're requiring disclosure of the social
media identifiers and that they make those accounts public so
they can go look at them if they choose to.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
So if my account right now, like an Instagram account
or a TikTok account is private, they might ask that
it's made public so that they can search it.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
That's what I expect, and the reason the reason I
don't know the details is just to clarify. This is
a notice of an intent to collect this information. So
under US law, federal agencies that they have forms, and
this est program is considered a form for purposes of

(02:04):
this law. But anytime an agency makes changes to a form,
they have to provide a notice and an ability for
anyone who wants to send in comments. So what published
today was their intent to within in sixty days or
more to begin this collection.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Brian, what do they look at? What are they looking for? Specifically?
I love isis or something?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Presumably well, And this is another situation where we can
kind of look at the clues to predict what what
they're looking for. But what this announcement actually says is
simply that they're adding social media is a mandatory data

(02:51):
element on the collection. Now it does say in order
to comply with Executive Order one for one sixty one.
And we know that there's two other agencies here, the
State Department and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, who
are also implementing that same executive order and asking for

(03:14):
social media and they have given more details, so I think,
you know, at least I'm assuming they're going to follow
what the other agencies are doing when they collected more
social media information and it's under that same executive order, Bryant,
and what that go ahead.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
No, I just want to know, from your perspective, generally
to people in New Zealand who might be thinking of
going to America, is it a dumb idea to write
negative things about Donald Trump?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
It shouldn't be. I really don't expect that's going to
be an issue. What they say they're looking for is
what the other agencies have said they're looking for is
anti Semitic. They talk about saying anti Semitic things on
social media in the same language they use the word

(04:13):
extremists and terrorists. So I think they're looking for pretty
extreme language when it comes to anti Semitism. And then
they also said they're vetting for anti American activity. But
if we look at what they're looking for with anti
semitism again, I think they're looking for some pretty pretty

(04:35):
extreme kind of statements that involve terrorism or violence.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
All right, and so good to know, Brian. I really
appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Brian hut He's US
immigration lawyer formerly with Homeland Security. For more from Hither
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