Sens Wyden, Markey Demand Answers from Trump Administration Using AI and Other Technology to Label People as National Security Risks

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen Edward Markey (D-MA) are demanding answers from the Trump administration about its use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to label people as a risk to U.S. national security. Sens Wyden and Markey called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to reverse the Trump administration's decision to expand its social media screening of visa applicants. Those policy changes seem intended to chill dissent, discriminate against particular viewpoints, and punish individuals for speech the Administration finds objectionable. In their letter to Secretaries Rubio and Noem, the lawmakers wrote, “Even in an administration intending to conduct social media screening in a fair and unbiased manner, the risks of mistakes are high. In an administration with malign intentions, these social media screening tools guarantee abuse.” The lawmakers continued, “We are deeply concerned that State and DHS’s respective new policies around social media screening are a thinly veiled effort to discriminate against visa applicants and other noncitizens seeking to pursue their studies or obtain asylum or lawful residence in the United States.”