Apr 28, 2011


DHS has made a move in the right direction by suspending the NSEERS program prospectively! Specifically, DHS posted a rule on the National Security Entry and Exit Program READ THE RULE. This major step by DHS follows nearly 10 years of advocacy and reaction by community members, NGOs, and leaders in Congress and DHS who made sure NSEERS remains a priority issue for the Administration. Effective April 28, the rule “de-lists” the citizens and nationals of countries subject to NSEERS. It is now critical that DHS use this rule to grant relief to those affected by NSEERS retrospectively. DHS must exercise discretion favorably for a program that even DHS has confirmed was controversial and ineffective. These individuals include fathers, breadwinners, husband and employees who have been stuck in legal limbo, placed in removal proceedings, denied admission and/or denied a green card or the ability to work because of NSEERS issues. Please see below for the various blogposts and press statements by groups and individuals around new policy suspending NSEERS.

“Special Registration” Requirements Suspended: South Asian Network Welcomes This Partial Victory

May 2, 2011- On Thursday, April 28, 2011, the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) registration requirements process, also known as “Special Registration,” was suspended. Implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002, Special Registration was a counter-productive response to September 11th, 2001. From the start, South Asian Network (SAN) organized against the program, which served to split apart thousands families and break apart South Asian communities across the U.S. through detention and deportation.

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April 28, 2011- The Department of Homeland Security announced it would suspend the controversial NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) program implemented in the wake of September 11, 2001, a move which had been advocated for by the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights.

April 28, 2011- One of the most offensive post-9/11 anti-immigrant policies dreamed up by our federal government is finally gone. Yesterday, DHS announced the end of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), astate-sanctioned racial profiling program that wasted serious amounts of government resources while damaging our country’s reputation, and treating whole groups of people as “other” because of where they came from, not what they did.


Immigration Impact, DHS Removes Countries From Special Registration List, But Leaves Door Open for Future Placements
April 28, 2011- This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will remove all countries from theNational Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS). Previously, nonimmigrant travelers from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen were forced to comply with special registration requirements, including providing fingerprints, a photograph, and any additional information required by DHS to DHS officials at the time the nonimmigrant applies for admission at a U.S. port of entry.


DRUM Welcomes Victory in Ending NSEERS and Calls for Accountability for Thousands of Muslim Families Already Torn Apart

April 28, 2011- After years of organizing to end one of the worst racial profiling policies, DRUM celebrates the suspension of the controversial National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) also known as 'Special Registrations' by the Department of Homeland Security yesterday. DRUM led the Coalition against Special Registrations in New York City and joined advocates across the country in campaigning to end the first phase started in 2002 wherein over 84,000 Muslim boys and men between the ages of 16 and 45 registered, leading to over 13,000 put into deportation proceedings based on civil immigration violations, and causing around 2,800 to be detained, all as a result of lawfully complying with the program. Thousands of families have been torn apart, jobs lost, and neighborhoods and communities devastated, many of which have still yet to recover. This massive and ineffective profiling campaign based on religion and ethnicity led to zero identifications and convictions of anyone associated with any cases of terrorism, but has come at extensive social, ethical, and economic costs.

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April 27, 2011-
Dear Colleagues:

Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the elimination of the list of countries whose nationals have been subject to registration under the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS)—effectively ending the NSEERS registration process through the publication of a notice in the Federal Register.
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Advocacy Organizations Welcome DHS Policy Change Regarding NSEERS
April 27, 2011-The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), along with the Arab American Institute (AAI), the National Immigration Forum (NIF) and theRights Working Group (RWG), welcome the decision by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to modify the National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS). According to DHS through a notice published in the Federal Register, effective tomorrow, nationals and citizens of countries currently subject to NSEERS are no longer required to register.

April 27, 2011- The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) welcomes the notice from the Department of Homeland Security that the agency will depopulate the country listings from its National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS). The program required all temporary immigrants from 25 predominantly-Muslim countries to register their presence, fingerprints, and photographs with local immigration offices or officers at U.S. ports of entry. NSEERS, criticized for contributing to racial profiling and civil rights violations, was notorious for procedures that were unclear, underpublicized and difficult for individuals to follow.


April 27, 2011- The Department of Homeland Security today, in a long-overdue announcement, said it will indefinitely suspend the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS). Instituted in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, NSEERS was a domestic immigration enforcement program targeting men and boys from predominantly Arab- and Muslim-majority nations for extraordinary registration requirements with DHS. The program was repeatedly condemned by the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as resulting in widespread profiling of tens of thousands of immigrants from Arab- and Muslim-majority countries.


April 27, 2011- The Muslim Public Affairs Council welcomes the indefinite suspension of the National Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) by the Department of Homeland Security(DHS). MPAC joins a coalition, which includes the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, South Asian Americans Leading Together, Rights Working Group, and others, in welcoming the change in DHS policy.
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CAIR Welcomes DHS Decision to Drop NSEERS Program
April 27, 2011- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today welcomed a decision by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to effectively drop the controversial National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS).