Kris Kobach, who could become President-elect Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, appears to be loose and careless with sensitive information.
In a tweet from the Topeka Capital-Journal, Kobach, who is currently Kansas’ Secretary of State, is seen with the President-elect, holding a folder with a set of documents on top, facing the camera. When the camera zooms in closer, the heading “DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY” is seen clearly, with the subhead “KOBACH STRATEGIC PLAN FOR FIRST 365 DAYS” underneath.
In one of the replies on that tweet’s comment thread, a Twitter user rotated the photo 90 degrees and enhanced the image resolution, to where the details of the document are seen. Among Kobach’s top priorities are reintroducing the Bush-era surveillance of Muslims and tracking of immigrants from conflict zones, instituting an outright ban on Syrian refugees to the United States, and language involving the augmentation of the current border wall between the United States and Mexico.
Perhaps the most alarming part of Kobach’s agenda for his first 365 days as DHS secretary is the relaunching of the NSEERS system, which the Bush administration put in place to serve as a registry for “high-risk” immigrants. The NSEERS program, which was put into place by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, was in full effect from 2002 to 2005, but largely suspended by 2011.
NSEERS required non-citizen visitors from high-risk areas to give fingerprints and be photographed before being allowed entry into the United States, and additionally demanded overseas visitors regularly check in with immigration agencies, which were tasked with arresting and deporting anyone who violated protocol. The program mainly targeted males between the ages of 16 and 25, and all of the high-risk countries included in the NSEERS program were predominantly Muslim, with the exception of one (North Korea).
As the Capital-Journal reported, Kobach’s document also detailed plans to expand the USA PATRIOT Act, which was instituted after the 9/11 attacks, and potential purging of voters. An obscured view of the text reveals the sentence “Draft amendments to National Voter…” which could be in reference to the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). However, the details of Kobach’s possible changes to the NVRA are unknown as of this writing.
Kobach is seen as a top contender to head the Department of Homeland Security, and was one of Trump’s closest advisors throughout his presidential campaign. However, considering Trump’s hammering of Hillary Clinton on her carelessness with sensitive information on her private email server, appointing Kobach after the emergence of this photo would seem hypocritical.
Trump’s cabinet picks so far have been rife with controversy. His appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) to Attorney General has sparked outrage among Democrats, who pointed out that Sessions was rejected by a Republican senate for a federal judgeship during the Reagan administration after a lengthy history of racist legal enforcement and derogatory comments about black people emerged.
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