Back in the bad old days of the Bush-Cheney regime, we had a national registry program for visitors from countries with active terrorist groups. It's been mothballed since 2011, but the Obama administration has decided it needs to be completely dismantled in light of Trump's threats to create a Muslim registry and/or ban on travel. The current administration has decided not to make it easy for him.
The move by the White House to formally end the registry is among the actions being taken in the final weeks of the administration that could prevent, or at least slow, what Democrats fear may be a swift rollback of President Obama’s efforts on immigration and climate change. […]
In recent days, dozens of Democratic officials in Washington, as well as the New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, have called for the regulations to be rescinded.
“No known terrorism convictions have resulted from the program,” read a joint letter, dated Dec. 1, from more than 50 Democratic members of the House of Representatives. Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat and a vocal opponent of Mr. Trump, said the program was “an affront to our core American values of pluralism and equal justice under law.”
The program is being dismantled with a simple rule change. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security submitted the rule change and it will be published in the Federal Register Friday. Neema Hakim, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that "D.H.S. ceased use of Nseers more than five years ago, after it was determined the program was redundant, inefficient and provided no increase in security." She added that the program would divert resources from more effective efforts if it were activated.
This will make it that much more difficult for Trump to resurrect it, particularly in light of the tech industry's refusal to participate in building a registry. That includes Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others, as well as thousands of tech workers. If Trump tries to reinstate it, he's going to have a fight on a number of levels.