Border security

Obama Scraps National Security Program to Screen Visitors From Middle Eastern Countries

The American Civil Liberties Union hailed President Obama on Thursday for scrapping the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a Bush-era program used to screen and track certain individuals coming to the United States from mostly Middle Eastern countries where al Qaida was present.

The program was launched on Sept. 11, 2002, a year after the 9-11 attacks, and although it was suspended in 2011 by the Obama administration, some groups have warned that incoming President Donald Trump could reactivate it as a "Muslim registry."

Under NSEERS, male foreign visitors over the age of 16, either arriving or staying in the U.S. from certain designated countries (most of them Muslim-majority countries) were required to register at immigration offices upon arrival in the United States.