Through a recently leaked memorandum to the public, it was revealed that  Immigration Services fraud prevention officers have been urged to check social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook, Classmates, amongst others, when investigating cases.

The memo is directed at officers of USCIS’ Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS), a unit of the agency that investigates pending and approved immigration petitions to verify the information in those petitions.

The memo suggests that its agents attempt to “friend” citizenship petitioners and their beneficiaries on social networks in the hope that these users allow agents to monitor their activities for evidence of suspected fraud, including evidence that their relationships might not live up to the USCIS’ standard of a legitimate marriage.

The presumptions in the memorandum concerning those that participate in social networking websites are quite disconcerting.  Additionally, there is no mention whether or not DHS agents are required to reveal their government affiliation or their real name during the friend request while monitoring activities, leaving open the possibility that agents could actively deceive online users wile monitoring the websites.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. We urge those who are going through the immigration process to use discretion in what they share about their particular situations in chat rooms and social networking websites.