The White House — amid the fight over President Donald Trump's executive orders to ban refugees from war-torn Syria indefinitely and suspend visas from seven countries for at least 30 days — is considering "extreme vetting" actions to ask foreign visa-holders for social media information and cell phone contacts, CNN's Jake Tapper reported Sunday morning.
The disclosure of "all websites and social media sites they visit, and to share the contacts in their cell phones" would be made by "request," according to the report.
White House policy director Stephen Miller, considered an immigration hard-liner, is conducting an inquiry with the State Department, Customs and Border Patrol, and Department of Homeland Security to enforce denying entry into the U.S. if foreign visa-holders decline to share the requested information at the border. This inquiry is "just in the preliminary discussion level," sources told CNN.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
A demand for such information would be difficult to defend under Constitutional privacy laws for U.S. citizens, but the same protections might not apply to foreign visa-holders.
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