What happened

The unions claim the US government's AI-driven social media surveillance programme unlawfully  surveils visa holders' social media for disfavoured political viewpoints, suppressing lawful speech, intimidating noncitizens via public warnings, and unlawfully revoking visas, thereby violating the First Amendment.

Additionally, the complaint cites the Administrative Procedure Act as it challenges the legality and transparency of the government’s surveillance practices.

It also raises transparency and accountability issues since the programme operates broadly with AI technologies that cannot easily discern nuance in speech, resulting in overreach and suppression. 

The suit challenges the constitutionality and legality of the programme and seeks to bar the government from continuing this surveillance and to invalidate data collected under it.

Why it happened

The US government initiated the US visa holder surveillance programme under the Trump administration, purportedly to identify and address hostile or threatening speech online from noncitizens related to national security concerns. This included screening visa holders for expressions the government views as problematic. 

The programme was extended to extensive viewpoint-based monitoring using AI, merging immigration enforcement with political speech control - which critics argue suppresses dissent and political expression by lawful US residents, posing major constitutional questions on free speech and due process.