National Security Entry-Exit Registration System

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What's at Stake

Created in the wake of September 11, 2001, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) targeted foreign nationals from 25 countries based on religion, ethnicity, and national origin. NSEERS was a discriminatory policy that ran counter to the fundamental American values of fairness and equal protection. Furthermore, NSEERS failed as a counterterrorism policy. National security needs can be addressed more effectively and efficiently through other existing programs and/or through programs targeting individuals based on suspect behavior, rather than through identity-based criteria such as race, religion, gender, or nationality.

Recognizing the ineffectiveness of the program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) de-listed the countries under NSEERS in April 2011, but kept the regulatory structure for NSEERS intact. It wasn’t until five years later, in December 2016, that DHS finally dismantled the dormant and discriminatory regulations that kept NSEERS in place.

Created in the wake of September 11, 2001, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) targeted foreign nationals from 25 countries based on religion, ethnicity, and national origin. NSEERS was a discriminatory policy that ran counter to the fundamental American values of fairness and equal protection. Furthermore, NSEERS failed as a counterterrorism policy. National security needs can be addressed more effectively and efficiently through other existing programs and/or through programs targeting individuals based on suspect behavior, rather than through identity-based criteria such as race, religion, gender, or nationality.

Recognizing the ineffectiveness of the program, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) de-listed the countries under NSEERS in April 2011, but kept the regulatory structure for NSEERS intact. It wasn’t until five years later, in December 2016, that DHS finally dismantled the dormant and discriminatory regulations that kept NSEERS in place.

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