“Those systems and programs, detailed by Homeland Security in explanation of NSEERS’s obsolescence, provide federal authorities with a range of tools to verify foreigners’ identities and monitor their movements. They apply broadly to visitors, travelers and immigrants. They also comport with constitutional standards and American values.
By contrast, a registry that singles out travelers from Muslim countries falls afoul of those standards — and may do little to enhance national security. While some prominent recent terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe were carried out by immigrants, the perpetrators of others, including the bloody assaults in Paris and Orlando, were by homegrown terrorists.”
I had NSEERS cases come before me during my early years at the Arlington Immigration Court. None of them appeared to relate to national security.
PWS
12/28/16
The Post Editorial is making too much of political talking points. Let’s wait and see what his Administration actually does with vetting. The only substance I was able to get from his immigration campaign statements is that he is going to limit refugee admissions to aliens we can do meaningful background investigations on.
I think Trump was referring to comments that the FBI director, the Director of National Intelligence, and the DHS secretary made about not having sources of information within Syria. Obama’s reaction was to take longer with their background clearances. He might as well have told his administration to spend 400 hours reading old Mad magazines before admitting anymore Syrian refugees. If our intelligence and police agencies have not information on Syrian refugees and can’t get it, what difference does it make how much time they spend on their background investigations.
I explain my position in more detail in the following article:
“What do we know about Syrian refugees?” (October 12, 2016),
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/57fbd438e4b0b665ad81873a?timestamp=1476313 713660