Social media info from Naturalized U.S. Citizens to be collected by Trump's DHS

For all those U.S. Naturalized Citizens who thought they wouldn't be affected by Trump's DHS, there are some bad news tonight:
"Homeland Security plans to collect immigrants’ social media info" https://www.cnet.com/news/homeland-security-plans-to-collect-immigrants-social-media-info/

'Every US immigrant's social media history is up for grabs starting Oct. 18.

The US Department of Homeland Security quietly introduced a proposed amendment to its records regulations last week that would allow the agency to collect data from all immigrants' social media history, including posts from their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. It would also affect green card holders and naturalized citizens. The new provision, introduced to the Federal Register on Sept. 18, was first spotted by Buzzfeed News.  

The update adds to increased government scrutiny of immigrants' internet activity, which has been growing since the administration of President Barack Obama and has continued into the presidency of Donald Trump.  On Sept. 13, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the DHS after 11 travelers had their laptops and phones searched without warrants at US borders. It's been reported that border agents have also been checking people's Facebook profiles. The US Department of State in May said it wanted to search through five years of social media history to grant US visas. (However, Border patrol agents said in July that they wouldn't search through a person's cloud data.)'

From the CNET.com article (link above), Jill Bronfman (privacy law expert) makes the obvious point about the fact Naturalized Citizens are also being targeted; "That just seems crazy to me":

'What's more, the updated rules apply to naturalized citizens, not just new visa applicants. "That just seems crazy to me," said Jill Bronfman, privacy law expert at UC Hastings College of the Law. "I don't know of very many incidences in the law in which we make a distinction between naturalized citizens and [native born citizens]."'

As mentioned above in the CNET article, the new provision, introduced to the federal register on sept. 18, was first spotted by "Buzzfeed News": https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/people-are-worried-about-dhs-plans-to-gather-social-media?utm_term=.sbpY5aBLzo#.thM8Nv63e1

"WASHINGTON — Federal officials are planning to collect social media information on all immigrants, including permanent residents and naturalized citizens, a move that has alarmed lawyers and privacy groups worried about how the information will be used.

The Department of Homeland Security published the new rule in the Federal Register last week, saying it wants to include "social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results" as part of people's immigration file. The new requirement takes effect Oct. 18.

DHS and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Adam Schwartz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for privacy and free expression, said the plan was disturbing.

"We see this as part of a larger process of high-tech surveillance of immigrants and more and more people being subjected to social media screening," Schwartz told BuzzFeed News. "There's a growing trend at the Department of Homeland Security to be snooping on the social media of immigrants and foreigners and we think it's an invasion of privacy and deters freedom of speech."

This would also affect all US citizens who communicate with immigrants, Schwartz said, who could self-censor out of fear that information they exchange with someone overseas could be misconstrued and used against them."

It appears the Trump administration doesn't just want to get rid of "bad hombres", but wants to look for excuses (even in social media) to get rid of immigrants in general (even Naturalized U.S. Citizens).