Trump is right to demand social media details for foreign tourists
Safe countries are now full of people who aren’t exactly safe.
This week, the Department of Homeland Security announced that foreign visitors seeking entry through the American visa waiver program ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) should be required to provide their social media details from the last five years, as well as other online-based information such as email addresses used in the past decade and the personal information of immediate family members.
ESTA is used by citizens of 42 countries to enter the United States for up to 90 days — whether for business or tourism — without having to navigate the time-consuming and expensive visa application process with an American embassy or consulate. In short, ESTA exists to both streamline the travel of citizens from (what used to be seen as) safer countries while providing some basic levels of security.
The problem? These safe countries are now full of people who aren’t exactly safe.
I’m talking about the United Kingdom, Germany, and France as obvious examples of former Western countries that have become their own hotbeds of Islamist radicalism.
Now, criticism of this announcement — even if we ignore the reflex outrage that follows quite literally every Trump administration proposal — is rooted in the ridiculous idea that foreigners have a right to visit the United States of America under our Constitution. One example accused Trump of “actively trying to kill the tourist industry,” as if such a proposal flies in the face of this being “the land of the free.” Then, the Guardian reported on others who are screaming about free speech, accusing Trump of being no different to China, “shredding civil liberties” and enforcing “censorship pure and simple.”
According to Amnesty International UK, the plan is “wildly out of proportion to any legitimate border need,” and that this “shows how ‘slippery slopes’ on human rights suddenly become cliffs.”
Oh, well if Amnesty International says so…
First off, surely we all agree that social media is the primary — and often only — method of communication and self-expression in our modern world? Given that international borders have become as permeable as Swiss cheese, the fact that someone has a British passport, German passport, or French passport now means nothing. For all we know, they arrived from Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia yesterday, and have spent the last five years declaring their love for Jihad on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Isn’t that an important detail for their potential hosts to uncover?
But secondly, notice the inherent elitism and arrogance here: the notion that foreigners have a right to travel to any country they wish without facing even the mildest inconvenience. Just because you’re allowed to float to England on an inflatable flamingo and immediately demand that the country you despise provide you with free housing, education, healthcare, and food while embracing the same Islamism you supposedly fled does not mean that we have to follow suit.
Donald Trump and his administration — as usual in the field of fighting illegal immigration and addressing the national security threats that lie within — are totally correct.
And frankly, the fewer European soccer fans that come here next summer, the better.