CHICAGO: A member of Homeland Security walks with his K-9 dog as travelers wait in the TSA security line at O’Hare International Airport on December 23, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. O’hare International Airport is one of the busiest hubs in the nation during the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years. Photo credit: Joshua Lott/Getty Images Israel CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 23 : A member of Homeland Security walks with his K-9 dog as travelers wait in the TSA security line at O’Hare International Airport on December 23, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. O’hare International Airport is one of the busiest hubs in the nation during the weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years. Photo credit: Joshua Lott/Getty Images Israel.
As of this week, “foreign travelers arriving in the United States on the visa waiver program have been presented with an ‘optional’ request to ‘enter information associated with your online presence,’” according to Politico, which broke the story the US government then later confirmed.
Since the program is (for now) voluntary, it is not clear how exactly it will discourage people from professing views that the Customs and Border Patrol (CPB) officers would make note of, or discourage them from coming to the US at all.
The provision applies to travelers entering through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), though travelers entering on the ground through Canada and Mexico are exempt and of course so are US citizens.
ESTA applications, if approved, are good for two years, including multiple trips to and from the US within that time, though the VWP admission approval covers a period of 90 days or less.
The initial proposal for amending ESTA was put forward in June, after several Middle Eastern countries were dropped from the VWP in accordance with new US national security laws this past January. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described the measures as a means to “enhance the existing investigative process and provide DHS greater clarity and visibility to possible nefarious activity and connections.”
