Social media not always taken into consideration during immigration background checks

After the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings by husband and wife Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, it was discovered that Malik had posted to her Facebook page several years prior that she supported violent jihad activities, and that she wanted to participate in them. Those posts were not reviewed when she entered the U.S. with a K-1 visa. In order to get the K-1 visa, Malik underwent two background checks: the first ensured she was not implicated in any national security or U.S. law enforcement databases, and next she was fingerprinted. Both of those screenings came back clean. Malik also had to pass additional background checks and be interviewed on two separate occasions in order to get her green card. The Department of Homeland Security does not currently have a plan to deal with social media background checks in the immigration process, but would like to introduce them in visa reviews in the future. The Department is debating a plan to make that happen in the hopes that attacks such as the one in San Bernardino may be prevented. Immigration officials are reviewing the other K-1 visas that have been issued in the past few years (about 90,000 visas in total).]]>