February 7, 2018 – Today, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a “National Vetting Center” for immigrants and travelers to the U.S.
Faiza Patel, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law’s Liberty & National Security Program, issued the following statement:
“We already rigorously vet people traveling to the U.S., so it is unclear what value such a center would add. In all likelihood it is simply another means of implementing the administration’s unnecessary and discriminatory policies, such as so-called ‘extreme vetting,’ which use a thin pretense of national security concern to keep Muslims and people of color out of the country.”
The Brennan Center issued the comprehensive report on Extreme Vetting and the Muslim Ban in late 2017. It found that the Trump administration’s travel and vetting policies failed to enhance national security, were discriminatory in nature, relied on unproven methodology, and had real costs for the American people, including economic harm.