DHS Contender Would Have Certain Immigrants Answer Questions on Religion
Kris Kobach brought a plan for homeland security to his meeting with Donald Trump — and flashed it to the press and public.
On Sunday, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is apparently a contender for head of Department of Homeland Security, went to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. He brought along his “Department of Homeland Security Kobach Strategic Plan for First 365 Days” -- and was photographed with it facing outward for all the world to see. So much for security:
On Sunday, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is apparently a contender for head of Department of Homeland Security, went to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. He brought along his “Department of Homeland Security Kobach Strategic Plan for First 365 Days” — and was photographed with it facing outward for all the world to see. So much for security:
The first part of the plan (and the only one not partially obscured by Kobach’s hand and arm) is to “Bar the Entry of Potential Terrorists.” This is a three part section. The first is the reintroduction of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System to track “all aliens from high-risk areas.” Kobach was reportedly the architect of NSEERS — which, to be clear, is a registry for certain immigrants — in former President George W. Bush’s Justice Department.
The second part is the addition of “extreme vetting questions for high-risk aliens” on topics such as jihad, the U.S. Constitution; gender equality; and Sharia law. Sharia law, it should be noted, has a much more pejorative connotation to many Americans (including, as a completely random example, the Kansas secretary of state) than it does to Muslims, who define it as the code according to which Muslims should live, and includes prayer and donating to the poor.
The third section calls for reducing the Syrian refugee intake down to zero using the 1980 Refugee Act.
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency and the government of Turkey, there are, as of earlier this month, over 4,800,000 registered Syrian refugees worldwide.
There is, of course, more to Kobach’s plan, including:
The partially obscured plan also included mention of voter rolls.
Kobach was one of several “numerous patriots” with whom Trump met on Sunday, according to the president-elect’s Twitter account. Either this was a prop used to throw journalistic outlets off Trump’s scent, or this particular patriot from Kansas wants to let no Syrian refugees into the country and institute religious conditions for others’ entry.
Photo credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Emily Tamkin is a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews. Twitter: @emilyctamkin
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