(Guardian UK) Trump administration to review all 55m US visa holders for potential rule violations. State Department says all people who hold valid US visas are subject to ‘continuous vetting’, including social media.
So, let’s see, here is John Jones, a UK scientist, holding a long-term visa while working with a firm that does research on cancer cures. Hmm, he seems pretty much okay on Facebook and LinkedIn, but here’s a post that criticizes cutbacks on government funding. What to do with that? Is it a ‘rule violation?’ Ah well, let it go, what the hell.
Done. That’s one down. Now, let’s reach for another before breaking for lunch.”
Fifty-four million, nine hundred and ninety-nine to go.
Man, I sure wish Elon hadn’t fired a thousand civil service and quarter-thousand foreign service employees here at State.
I could really use some help.
“Maybe I’ll just mark a few as rejected, so they don’t think I’m slacking. Hmm, Wednesday, I think it’s meatloaf in the cafeteria.”
(Further in the Guardian)
In a move first reported by the Associated Press, the state department said that all of the foreigners who currently hold valid US visas are subject to “continuous vetting” for any indication that they could be ineligible for the document, including those already admitted into the country. Should such evidence come to light, the visa would be revoked and, if the visa holder were in the United States, they would be subject to deportation.
“The State Department revokes visas any time there are indications of a potential ineligibility, which includes things like any indicators of overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organization,” a department spokesperson said.
It follows an announcement by the Trump administration on Tuesday that it will look for “anti-American” views, including on social media, when assessing the applications of people wanting to live in the United States.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which handles requests to stay in the US or become a citizen, said it would expand vetting of the social media postings of applicants and that “reviews for anti-American activity will be added to that vetting”.
“America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,” said a USCIS spokesperson, Matthew Tragesser. “US Citizenship and Immigration Services is committed to implementing policies and procedures that root out anti-Americanism and supporting the enforcement of rigorous screening and vetting measures to the fullest extent possible. Immigration benefits – including to live and work in the United States – remain a privilege, not a right.”
No matter what it says on the Statue of Liberty.
Historically, the notion of anti-Americanism has primarily focused on communism. But since taking office in January, the Trump administration has moved aggressively to deny or rescind short-term visas for people deemed to go against US foreign policy interests, especially regarding Israel.
Indeed, the latest guidance on immigration decisions said that authorities will look at whether applicants “promote antisemitic ideologies”.
And who, pray tell, is the arbiter of that?
Onward and upward from the McCarthy Hearings, to a Trump presidency.
Or not. As a nation, we may get through this as well. Who knows?
They're counting on AI doing most of the vetting. Not that it will do a very good job, but that's the point. It's not a bug; it's a feature.
If I understand product development correctly, traditionally the developers would need to identify a problem. No problem? Manufacture one. They've achieved that milestone.
Then you come to proof of concept. Can a new widget (or repurposed widget) solve the problem they've identified? Can they take an LLM and get to crawl Facebook for keywords? That's easy.
With their targets identified, they need to see whether they can use ICE and the FBI to secure those targets for removal to El Salvador or detention in Alligator Alcatraz. We've already seen the beta release for that. Version 1.0 will apply to a more inclusive palette.
Because even Americans can learn to stop using social media, they'll have to repurpose some mandatory digital registry (imagine Real ID meets social security) and apply something like China's social credit system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Credit_System) so that your ability to buy a home or car, rent an apartment, get a business license, buy a gun, send your kid to college all depends on whether you're a good citizen.
Bad credit rating? We can fix that through a training and re-education system.
The American police state will make all previous totalitarian systems look like Sunday schools. In part because everything that's happened on this continent since 1492 has laid a solid foundation.
But never mind that. Focus your energy on keeping your job (because you won't find another), saving like hell for retirement (because it's all on you now) and making sure your kids are normal.
You're worried about Congress? the General Assembly? Town Hall? school board or PTA? Who do you think you are? Maybe you should pray harder.
My friends are tired. Busy. Disillusioned. There's no leadership, just the occasional eloquent outburst. It's almost like there's a pendulum of control between two parties, so that it makes sense for (hold tight: switching metaphors) the opposing team to play dead until they get the ball.