Man who wants to head DHS accidentally exposes immigration plan in photo

Kris Kobach met with Donald Trump on Sunday and pitched a hardline immigration plan for the first year if he is chosen to head the Department of Homeland Security.

The plans weren’t revealed from the Kansas Secretary of State’s office, or even the president-elect’s staff. It was a lot simpler: Kobach was holding the plan in plain sight when he took a photograph with Trump.

The high-resolution photo posted by an Associated Press photographer gives partial (Kobach’s arm is covering a large portion of it) insight into Kobach’s pitch.

Kobach — who has previously called for “extreme vetting” of some Muslim immigrants and has floated the idea of reviving a now cancelled registry of immigrants from countries with extremist activity — calls to “bar the entry of potential terrorists” and to “[obscured by finger] Record Number of criminal aliens in the first year.”

Part of Kobach’s plan to bar potential terrorists would be to reintroduce elements of the screening and tracking system from the “National Security Entry-Exit Registration System’s,” which was put in place following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The NSEERS program was ended in 2011 after the DHS said it was redundant and critics said it unfairly targeted immigrants from majority-Muslim nations.

Kobach worked on the program when he was at the Department of Justice under former president George W. Bush.

Kobach also called for “extreme vetting questions for high-risk aliens; question them regarding support for Sharia law, jihad, equality of men and women, the United States Constitution.” Kobach also called for the U.S. to let in zero Syrian refugees.

Last week Kobach said immigration advisers may recommend Trump bring back the registry. At that time, an aide who requested anonymity, told USA TODAY Kobach was not an adviser to Trump, but the aide defended the idea of a registry for immigrants from high-risk countries.

"I think what gets lost is that it was a program that was also in place under Obama. I mean, everyone who crosses our borders is logged in the system. There’s just a higher focus on individuals who come from areas of greater concern," the aide said.