even if there is a law or laws providing for keeping tabs, the president would not enforce them or order the DHS to make the effort
Exactly. Right now it’s pretty irrelevant what our immigration and surveillance laws are. Obama and his minions just do whatever they want to do anyway.
I glanced at a post in another thread that claimed that the Patriot Act specifically denies the right to track people by religion; sorry I can’t provide a link. On the other hand, opinion around here is that longstanding immigration regs allow the U.S. to consider religion in immigration decisions. So which rule “trumps” the other? It would seem that the Patriot Act would be more readily altered by an incoming pro-Constitutional administration (as distinct from Bernie, Hillary or any Democrat whatsoever).