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The proposal for visa applicants to surrender 5 years of their social-media history will have a "huge impact" on travel to the US and could be "very damaging" for those seeking to come to America, an immigration attorney told RT.
While diplomats and travelers facing medical emergencies are expected to be exempt from the new extreme vetting procedure proposed by the US State Department, all others, including both immigrants and tourists, would have to disclose their social-media history over the past five years, along with telephone numbers and email accounts used during the same period.Attorney Rosanna Berardi, a first-generation Italian-American with several decades of legal experience, believes a lot of people would be denied entry should the proposal go through. "I'm guessing that if we take that one step further in this arena, they will be able to refuse people entry, as long as they can deem it as a threat to national security. That can be described in many different ways, being an opportunity here for a lot of people to be denied entry," she said.
Berardi explained that US border control already has all the authority needed to look through people's mobile phones and refuse entry if it deems necessary. "For example, if you cross the border between the US and Canada, the government can pretty much search whatever they want in the name of national security. So, they have a lot of freedom in terms of what they can look at and why they can keep you out of the country," the lawyer explained.
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