With the goal of halting the Trump administration’s so-called Muslim Registry, hundreds of civil rights groups asked President Barack Obama to dismantle a program once used to register foreigners from Muslim-majority countries which is known as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (or NSEERS).
“NSEERS was a discriminatory policy that ran counter to the fundamental American values of fairness and equal protection,” the group stated in a letter. “It was ineffective as a counterterrorism tool, resulted in tremendous harm for individuals who were directly affected, and has disrupted relationships with immigrant communities.”
“Unless this program is rescinded, the Trump administration will come into office with a framework already in place to quickly implement a so-called Muslim registry” declared Jamal Abdi who works at the National Iranian American Council Executive, one of the activist groups. “This discriminatory framework must be removed before it can be exploited and innocent people are targeted.”
Voice of America lists the “25 home countries of Muslims subject to the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS): Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.”
