WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday dismantled a controversial post-9/11 homeland security program that critics feared would create the framework for Donald Trump’s previous proposals to track Muslims in the US or block them from entering.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is removing outdated regulations pertaining to the National Security Entry-Exit Registration Systems (NSEERS) program,” DHS spokesman Neema Hakim said in a statement.
DHS stopped using the program — aimed largely at tracking visitors from Arab and Muslim countries — five years ago. Arab American and Muslim groups had been pressuring President Obama to remove all the regulations for the program before Trump enters office.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) called the NSEERS program “discriminatory” by profiling Arabs and Muslims by questioning and fingerprinting them and registering their identifying information in a database.
“This is the right decision by [DHS] Secretary [Jeh] Johnson … However the community cannot be at ease; the next administration has indicated that they will consider implementing similar programs,” said ADC legal and policy director Abed Ayoub.
A member of Trump’s transition team, Kris Kobach, helped design the program after 9/11 and was photographed carrying plans to Trump on how to revive it. That prompted Democrats and activists — including New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman — to urge the Obama administration to undo the federal rules underpinning the program.
“This is a win for civil rights and for smart, effective law enforcement, as well as for the strong coalition of advocacy organizations and others who fought to dismantle this discriminatory tool,” Schneiderman said.