US embassy in Monrovia tells visa applicants to make social media accounts 'public' for vetting

Liberians applying for US visas will have to give American authorities access to their social media, according to the US embassy in Monrovia.  

In a statement posted on its website, the embassy said that people “applying for an F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa are requested to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States under US law.” 

But Liberians are not alone. The move is part of a new policy tightening screening processes across the board. The aim is “to ensure those applying for admission to the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests,” the US State Department said in a press release on 18 June, adding that “a US visa is a privilege, not a right.”  

Since returning to office in January, Donald Trump has cracked down on foreign nationals who want to enter the US and those already in the country. Tourists and legal permanent residents of the US, including nationals of Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom, have also been detained trying to enter the country.  

Deportations 

On Monday, the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to restart deporting migrants to countries other than their homelands, as part of sweeping anti-immigrant measures that have sparked widespread protests, high-profile detentions and various court challenges. The Supreme Court’s action lifts for now a court order requiring migrants are given a chance to challenge the deportations. 

Earlier this month, the Trump administration issued a travel ban on citizens of 12 countries that restricted access to people from seven others includes some exceptions, part of the administration’s efforts to withstand the legal challenges that a similar policy known as the ‘Muslim ban’ faced during Donald Trump's first administration. 

The ban applies to people from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The restrictions are for people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, who are outside the United States and don't hold a visa. 

Some exceptions apply only to specific countries, like Afghanistan. Others are for most of the countries on the list, or are more general and unclear, like the policies for foreign visitors planning to visit the US for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, two of the events President Donald Trump has said he is more excited to host. 

Some experts agree that the current ban includes exceptions and has fixed some issues that were subject to litigation in the first travel ban. 

“Absolutely, the administration is trying to avoid the problems that they had with the first proclamation,” said Jeff Joseph, president-elect at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He anticipated, nonetheless, that lawsuits are “going to come anyway.” 

‘Muslim ban’  

In one of the most confusing moments of his first administration, Trump issued an executive order in 2017 banning travel to the US by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. 

People from those countries were barred from getting on flights to the US or detained at US airports after landing. Among them were students, faculty, businesspeople, tourists and people visiting family. 

The order, dubbed a ‘Muslim ban’ by critics, faced legal challenges in the courts for about a year and was amended twice after opponents argued in the courts that it was unconstitutional and illegal. A version of the first travel ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.