State/DHS Letter Text (PDF) | GAO Letter Text (PDF)

Washington (June 20, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today led their colleagues in two letters about the government’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to determine whether an individual poses a national security risk. 

The lawmakers write to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, urging the Trump administration to reverse its decision to expand its social media screening of visa applicants. Those policy changes appear intended to chill dissent, discriminate against particular viewpoints, and punish individuals for speech the Administration finds objectionable. In another letter, the lawmakers wrote to the Government Accountability Office, requesting that it investigate how the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are using AI technologies to label individuals as potential threats to the public, including automated analysis of content people post online. The letters were also signed by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

In their letter to Secretaries Rubio and Noem, the lawmakers write, “Although the national security benefits of social media screening may be unproven, the costs are very real. The wide-scale collection of social media information violates the free expression rights of foreigners and American citizens, infringes on applicants’ personal privacy, creates unnecessary processing delays, and creates risks of abuse and discrimination...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.”

The lawmakers request answers by July 9, 2025, to questions including:

1. Please provide any studies, analyses, audits, or other examination of the social media collection, screening, and vetting programs at State or DHS conducted between December 15, 2015, and the date of this letter.

1. Is the State Department or DHS using artificial intelligence (AI) or any other automated system to collect, process, analyze, or otherwise review information collected from social media accounts of visa applicants and applicants for an immigration benefit?

1. How many visa applicants or individuals seeking an immigration benefit have had their application denied solely or primarily due to the social media screening and vetting process, including those denied for failing to provide a social media identifier? 

1. Please provide any State Department and DHS memos, guidance documents, or other written policies intended to guide career staff in interpreting social media indicia for a visa applicant or applicant for an immigration benefit.

1. Has the State Department, DHS, or any other agency or component conducted any legal analysis or First Amendment review of the March 25 State Department memo or the April 9 DHS announcement?

1. What safeguards, if any, are in place to ensure that personal bias, political viewpoints, or cultural misunderstandings do not influence visa adjudications or immigration benefit decisions based on social media content?

1. Did the State Department’s Office of Civil Rights or DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties or Privacy Office review the respective policies before their implementation?

In their letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the lawmakers raise serious concerns about DHS and DOJ’s use of “technologies that make dubious automated inferences about individuals’ emotions, attitudes, and intentions,” including the administration’s deployment of “AI to scan the social media accounts of tens of thousands of student visa holders and flag some as supposedly supporting terrorist organizations.”

The GAO letter is also cosigned by Representatives Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash).

The lawmakers write: “It is particularly dangerous to use AI for inferring mental states in law enforcement contexts, where false positives can subject individuals to baseless investigation and detention. Furthermore, since many criminal statutes require proof of intent or other state of mind, using AI in this way could lead prosecutors to bring more severe charges against individuals on the basis of pseudoscientific evidence. This technology is also ripe for deliberate abuse, providing a pretext for government officials to target groups they disfavor.”

The lawmakers request that GAO produce a report that addresses questions including the following:

1. How many people have been the subject of an automated analysis conducted by DOJ or DHS personnel using AI technologies that infer people’s emotions, attitudes, or intentions?

1. What kinds of law enforcement actions have been guided by DOJ and DHS personnel’s use of these technologies?

1. What tests of these technologies did DOJ and DHS conduct before using them for law enforcement purposes?

1. What DOJ and DHS policies govern the uses of these AI technologies to prevent violations of due process, freedom of expression, equal protection, and other constitutional rights?

###