President Barack Obama's decision to end a national registry that keeps track of people who come to the United States from countries with active terrorist groups would greatly impede law enforcement after such attacks as in Berlin on Monday, former INS agent Michael Cutler told Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"The first thing they did was find fingerprints," Cutler, who has spent more than three decades in immigration enforcement, told host Bill Tucker on "America Talks Live."
He was referring to German authorities, who identified the attacker as Anis Amri. Amri, 24, a Tunisian native, remained at large Thursday.
Police found his identity papers in the cabin of the truck he used in the attack — and they lifted his fingerprints from the steering wheel, according to news reports.
"They went into their database and said: 'Here's the match. We've got the fingerprints. We know who this individual is.'"
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President Obama plans to end the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System before President-elect Donald Trump takes office Jan. 20, The New York Times reported.
"That was part of the reason for NSEERS," Cutler said. "The concern was that there'd be future terrorist attacks – and, in fact, there have been by aliens who have gamed the immigration system."
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