The Trump Administration has proposed a new set of strict procedures that would mandate tourists and business travelers to provide their social media history from the past five years in order to enter the country.
The proposal, which was recently posted on the Federal Register by U.S. Customers and Border Protection (CBP), would transform the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). ESTA is used by citizens of 42 countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan and most of Europe to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days without a traditional visa.
If implemented, the changes would make the collection of five years of applicants’ social media history mandatory, a response to an Executive Order aimed at enhancing national security vetting. This move will allow U.S. authorities to analyze the digital footprint of tourists and business travelers as part of their background check.
In addition to social media, the proposal outlines plans to collect a host of what it calls “high value data fields,” including details like telephone numbers and emails used over the past five years, family members’ names and birth dates along with their birthplaces, residences and phone numbers over the prior five years.
The CBP also announced plans to decommission the current ESTA website application, forcing all new travelers to apply exclusively through the official ESTA Mobile Application.
The agency citied security vulnerabilities in the website, noting that poor-quality photo uploads have been used by bad actors to bypass facial comparison screening.
Therefore, the proposal is offering a new approach where travelers will be mandated to take a “selfie” which the app will use with “liveness detection” software to confirm the traveler is a real person and biometrically match their face against the photo stored on the passport’s electronic chip.
This selfie requirement will apply even if a third party, like a travel agent, submits the application, the CBP said.
The proposal has been given a 60-day notice with requests for comments from the public. It has not been finalized and revisions are possible.
This proposal comes shortly after the Trump Administration ordered an immediate pause on all immigration applications filed by people from several countries following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. in November.
The freeze applies to a broad range of benefits, including applications for green cards and naturalization, for nationals of the following countries:
- Afghanistan
- Myanmar (Burma)
- Chad
- Republic of the Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
The new policy will allow the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to reexamine green-card holders who are already residing in the U.S. as it reviews cases that were done under the Biden administration and indefinitely pauses asylum decisions.
“We’re going back on all of these folks that have applied for asylum, people that would be traveling to this country, and looking at more information, what … social media platforms they may have visited, the communications that they have, biometric information and data that we can collect from them, but also from their government too,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last week.
USCIS cited the shooting of two National Guard troops by a suspect who is an Afghan national as a reason for the new policy.
One National Guard member, Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries, while another, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured but is now “slowly healing,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a Dec. 5 post shared on X.
In light of identified concerns and the threat to the American people, USCIS has determined that a comprehensive re-review, potential interview, and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 is necessary,” a statement shared on Dec. 2 reads. “Lastly, USCIS may, when appropriate, extend this review and re-interview process to aliens who entered the United States outside of this timeframe.”
The hold will remain in place until USCIS Director Joseph Edlow decides to lift it, the memo states. The agency has given itself 90 days to create a prioritized list of cases for review and potential referral to immigration enforcement or other law enforcement agencies.
