Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has been advising Donald Trump’s transition team on immigration issues, says that Trump may reinstate a post-9/11 registry of immigrants and visitors from countries with active terrorist groups.
Kobach told Reuters in an interview published Tuesday night said he has had several calls with Trump’s transition team and that they may draft a proposal to bring back something like the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a program started in 2002 that Kobach helped design under President George W Bush.
Under NSEERS, male visitors and immigrants over the age of 16 from a list of 25 countries, most of which were majority Muslim, had to register, sit for interviews, and check in with officials. The program was criticized for unfairly targeting people from Muslim countries, and the U.S. stopped using the program in 2011.
Kobach also told Reuters that Trump officials are looking at a way to begin building a border wall without approval from Congress by directing the Homeland Security Department to reappropriate existing funds. He said that “that future fiscal years will require additional appropriations” to keep building the wall.
Kobach is known for pushing anti-immigration policies. He helped write bills in Arizona and Mississippi that allowed law enforcement to stop people they believe are undocumented immigrants. He also pushed for Kansas to require voters to provide proof of citizenship and has been a big proponent of voter ID laws. He advised Trump on immigration during the campaign and developed a plan to make Mexico to pay for a border wall.
