Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, a top contender for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, gave the world a glimpse of the 365-day plan he would enact if he were to be nominated by President-elect Donald Trump. As Trump and Kobach wrapped up their meeting at Trump International Golf Club in New Jersey on Monday, the two posed for photos — and, with papers in his hand, Kobach likely underestimated a camera’s zoom. Only portions of the document titled “Department of Homeland Security Kobach Strategic Plan for First 365 Days” were readable, but enough was visible to make clear that liberal outrage over Trump’s supposedly “dangerous plan” is misdirected. In fact, the plan seems fairly reasonable.
Kobach’s plan to bar entry of potential terrorists would not ban all Muslims from entering the United States, as Trump has suggested in the past. Rather, it would add extreme vetting questions for high-risk aliens; specifically, they would be asked about their support for “Sharia law, jihad, equality of men and women, the United States Constitution.” The plan would also point to the 1980 Refugee Act as legal justification for reducing the intake of Syrian refugees to zero. And, to track aliens from high-risk areas, Kobach would reinstate the National Entry-Exit Registration that the George W. Bush administration used from 2002 to 2005.