In a comment submitted today, Muslim Advocates sharply criticized the Department of State’s proposed “extreme vetting” regulations.  Muslim Advocates’ filing makes clear that the proposal is just “another thinly veiled attempt by the Trump Administration to target Muslims.”

The proposed requirements open the door to unchecked profiling and discrimination by demanding an unprecedented wealth of information from visa applicants, including deeply personal information about an individual’s family, social media accounts, personal employment, and travel—all without any clear guidance as to how such information will be used or stored.   As Muslim Advocates noted, the proposal “would effectively create a treasure trove of highly sensitive, private data, the majority of which would belong to Muslims.  It would, in effect, be a substantial step forward for President Trump’s prior commitments to create a Muslim registry.”

According to the filing, the proposal also fails to satisfy the requirements for an emergency justification and are a “redundant, burdensome, and inefficient use of government resources at best, and a discriminatory, biased, and resource-draining program at worst.”

The law firm of Covington & Burling LLP assisted with the drafting of the comments.

Click here to read the comments in full.