CDT Opposes Trump Administration Initiative to Routinely Collect Social Media Identifiers from Applicants for Immigration Benefits

These comments were co-authored by CDT Intern Jacob Smith. 

Today, CDT submitted comments opposing USCIS’ initiative to routinely collect social media identifiers from applicants for a wide variety of immigration benefits, ranging from asylum to naturalization. USCIS plans to collect social media identifiers to further its viewpoint-based immigration enforcement policy, which will punish and deport individuals on the basis of their constitutionally-protected expression and chill the lawful speech of citizens and noncitizens alike. CDT’s comments document the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional and punitive immigration enforcement actions against lawful residents who exercised their rights to speech and protest. Social media surveillance furthered through USCIS’ proposed social media identifier collection would fly in the face of our First Amendment values and chill valuable expression. The negative consequences of these policies will be made worse through the use of imprecise AI tools that are bound to fail, exacerbating the chilling and punitive effects of the administration’s unlawful policies.

Read the full comments.