Obama acts to make it more difficult for Trump to ban Muslims

The vestiges of 9/11 were still on the books, but not enforced.

The post-9/11 registration program for immigrant men arriving mainly from the Islamic world hasn’t been enforced since 2011. Although it never prohibited travel for men and boys from the more than 20 affected countries, including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump’s suggestions about banning Muslim immigrants from the United States have led to fears that it could be reinstated and used for new and enhanced purposes.

The decision to erase it from the books entirely marks one of President Barack Obama’s last administrative actions on immigration and will at least slow any Trump effort to introduce even tougher requirements, as has been suggested by a top adviser.

The registration program is “not only obsolete,” said Neema Hakim, spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, “its use would divert limited personnel and resources from more effective measures.”

The registration system started about a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, requiring men and boys from a variety of mostly Middle Eastern countries to register with the federal government upon their arrival in the United States. Such people already in the country had to register with immigration authorities inside the U.S.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.