The U.S. government program surveilling the social media accounts of legally present visa holders violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, unions said in a lawsuit filed on Oct. 16.
“The Challenged Surveillance Program is carried out to identify and punish noncitizens who express viewpoints disfavored by the government,” the suit states. “Defendants seek and have sought to punish political and ideological expression by noncitizens on a number of topics, including criticism of the United States, criticism of the Trump administration, criticism of the state of Israel, and support for Palestine.”
The State Department has acknowledged keeping track of visa holders’ social media activity. Officials said this week that they revoked the visas of six foreigners who publicly celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk, who led the conservative group Turning Point USA. That included a Mexican national who said Kirk “died being a racist” and that “there are people who deserve to die,” according to the agency….