Former ICE chief 'concerned' by Trump's plans to trawl tourist's social media before entering US
John Sandweg said the plan to make tourists hand over five years of social media history was "alarming"
The former head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said he is concerned by proposals to force foreigners to hand over five years of social media history for vetting before entering the country.
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The drastic move is the latest attempt by Trump to scrutinise foreign visitors - after an immigration freeze from 19 countries was announced last week.
According to a notice published in the country's federal register on Tuesday, all foreign tourists, which includes Brits travelling to the US for the 2026 World Cup, would need to provide their social media from the last five years.
John Sandweg, who served as the head of ICE under President Obama, told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr that he was worried about how the information would be used.
Admitting that vetting of social media is not new, Sandweg said that it has previously only been used to vet entrants for terrorist sympathies rather than mainstream political views.
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The former official told Andrew: "I think the concern here is what is the administration going to be looking for, right?
"Are they looking for this? If you have an anti-Trump views or kind of pro-Europe views, is that going to be disqualifying in terms of your ability to come in the country?"
At present, travellers from more than 40 countries - including Britain - can visit the US for up to 90 days without a visa, as long as they hold an electronic travel authorisation, known as an ESTA.
However, the proposed social-media requirement, put forward by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), would apply to all visitors, regardless of whether or not they need a visa.
Information from the review of social media review would then be used to decide whether a traveller is granted an ESTA.
It will be "mandatory" to hand over the information, and other details - including email addresses and telephone numbers used in the last five years.
Personal details of family members will also be required.
When asked about whether the policy is a result of Trump's ire with European nations, Sandweg said: "It fits into this larger anti-immigration, more restrictive agenda the administration has, not so much the antipathy towards Europe."
He added: "The million dollar question I don't know that we'll ever get full clarity on is now that they have the social media information, what are they looking for?
"And with all these big data AI (artificial intelligence) tools they have available to them today, it just won't be hard to find that old message about Elon Musk and being critical of him.
"And it's really not until we start seeing cases and start hearing media stories about individuals who have no national security risks associated with them but have simply expressed political views that are opposite of this current US administration and those people being denied.
"And I think that's why it's so alarming. This is always a sensitive topic, and when we rolled out social media in the context of monitoring, in the context of visa applications, there were lots of concerns about what the government's going to be doing with that information.
"But this administration's not been shy. They tend to deny people access to America that don't share their ideals or their vision of what freedom looks like."