DHS To Officially Require Immigrants' Files To Contain Social Media Info
Found on Techdirt on Wednesday, 27 September 2017
This will affect all immigrants, whether or not their legal status says they should be treated like US citizens. The rule covers permanent residents and naturalized citizens, not just visa applicants and visitors.
The new rule is silent on the subject of passwords, but it's pretty clear reluctance to turn over this info will result in "incomplete" searches of immigrants' devices. The best case scenario is they're free to go… without their devices. The worst case is hours of detention while CBP/ICE agents attempt to talk detainees into handing over this information.
With that the US stays on to of the no-fly list for many people; but it would be interesting to follow the discussions between agents and a traveller who tries to explain that he does not have any social media accounts at all.