Rep. Vern Buchanan (R., Fla.) criticized the Obama administration’s proposed plan to ask foreigners entering the United States permission to screen their social media accounts, arguing that terrorists would not be compelled to "voluntarily offer up incriminating evidence."
The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection unveiled the proposal in the Federal Register last week. The proposed action would involve adding a line to forms that visitors to the United States fill out that would ask them to disclose their social media accounts.
"What terrorist is going to give our government permission to see their radical jihadist rants on social media?" Buchanan said Tuesday in a release, which described the proposal as "lame." "The only people who will share that information are those with nothing to hide."
The department proposed adding the question, "Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier," to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and Form I-94W. The question would be specified as an "optional data field," meaning that foreigners could choose whether to fill it out.
"Collecting social media data will enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections by providing an additional tool set which analysts and investigators may use to better analyze and investigate the case," Customs and Border Protection wrote in the entry.
But Buchanan argued that "no ISIS terrorist will voluntarily offer up incriminating evidence," referring to the terror group behind massive attacks in Paris and Brussels in recent months.
Buchanan has authored legislation that would require the secretary of Homeland Security to screen social media counts of foreigners trying to enter the United States. He introduced the bill, called the "Social Media Screening For Terrorists Act," after two radicalized individuals killed 14 people in an attack on a San Bernardino, Calif., holiday party last December.
Customs and Border Protection introduced the proposed rule about two weeks after gunman Omar Mateen, a U.S. citizen opened fire on a gay club in Orlando, Fla., killing 49 people in the largest domestic terror attack since September 11, 2001. Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS in 911 calls during the attack.