REPORT: Trump Administration May Ask Foreign Visitors For Social Media Info, Cell Phone Contacts

“If the foreign visitor declines to share such information, he or she could be denied entry,” CNN reports

President Donald Trump’s administration is considering asking foreign visitors to disclose all websites and social media platforms they’ve used, and to share contacts from their cell phones, according to a new CNN report. 

CNN’s Jake Tapper said White House policy director Stephen Miller mentioned the proposal Saturday during conversations with officials from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Miller told the officials Trump is committed to his anti-Muslim immigration ban and urged them not to be distracted by “hysterical voices on TV,” the network reported. 

“Miller also noted on Saturday that Trump administration officials are discussing the possibility of asking foreign visitors to disclose all websites and social media sites they visit, and to share the contacts in their cell phones,” Tapper reported. “If the foreign visitor declines to share such information, he or she could be denied entry.”

Jim Sciutto, CNN’s chief national security correspondent, responded by nothing that such a policy would be logistically difficult to implement at airports, but could become part of the application process for U.S. visas. 

Although the proposal is getting renewed attention in the wake of Trump’s executive order, it is not entirely new. 

POLITICO reported back in June that the U.S. was considering asking some foreign visitors to “provide details about their accounts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, as the government looks for new ways to spot terrorist threats.” The proposal from the Department of Homeland Security, which was published in the Federal Register, came in response to reports that Tashfeen Malik, one of the San Bernardino terrorists, expressed support for jihad on social media before she applied for a U.S. Visa.

Watch the CNN clip here.