Trump administration works to strip convicted terrorists of citizenship

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It seems fairly cut and dry that anyone that takes up arms against the United States loses their citizenship. You make that choice when you turn traitor and wage warfare against the U.S. Why would you want citizenship in a country you are seeking to destroy? They abandoned their citizenship to wage war in the cause of the caliphate, let them live in the Islamic State (whatever hellhole they find themselves in). That said, those that take up arms against the U.S. are the left’s favorite kind of U.S. citizen, so this will be a battle. They should a firing squad not a Democrat welcome wagon.

Trump officials pushing to strip convicted terrorists of citizenship

Critics fear a dangerous new front in how the legal system treats naturalized U.S. citizens convicted of terrorism offenses.

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By Josh Gersein, Politico, June 8, 2019:

John Walker Lindh walked out of prison last month and returned to American life, having served 17 years for providing support to the Taliban.

But another American who pleaded guilty in a high-profile terrorism case after the Sept. 11 attacks is facing a tougher path to freedom.

Like Lindh, Iyman Faris received a 20-year sentence at a time when the country was still on edge about further terror attacks. And the Ohio-based trucker admitted to involvement in a plot that sounded like al-Qaida’s most spectacular since 9/11 — an attempt to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge by using gas torches to cut the cables holding it up.

Faris, however, was not born in the United States, and the Trump administration has a controversial plan for him as he’s about to be released: strip him of his U.S. citizenship and kick him out of the country. Or perhaps keep him behind bars indefinitely.

Critics say the current move to revoke the al-Qaida sleeper agent’s American citizenship highlights the limited progress the U.S. has made in the past two decades in prison-based deradicalization efforts. They also say it could create a dangerous new front in how the legal system treats U.S. citizens convicted of terrorism offenses.

“It’s part and parcel of the rest of the immigration policy which is just to demonize people from other countries,” said Joshua Dratel, a Manhattan defense attorney. “It’s an aggressive move.”

How does one demonize a jihadi who plotted to to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge by using gas torches to cut the cables holding it up?

In the absence of a life sentence or capital punishment, native-born Americans like Lindh seem all but certain to walk the streets in the U.S. again after serving their sentences, even if they’re unrepentant. But naturalized citizens like the Pakistani-born Faris are at risk of being deported over their allegiance to al-Qaida.

“The Supreme Court has said there’s no excommunication when it comes to citizenship,” said Case Western Reserve University law professor Andra Robertson. “There’s only two ways to lose your citizenship: one is when a person voluntarily gives it up and two is when there’s some fraud or illegality in its procurement … If you’re a native-born citizen, obviously you didn’t commit fraud to get your citizenship, so only a naturalized citizen can lose their citizenship involuntarily.”

Just one day after Lindh was released from a federal prison in California last month, Justice Department lawyers filed a motion with a federal judge in Illinois, urging her to void Faris’ U.S. citizenship. The government’s key argument was that by linking up with al-Qaida between 2000 and 2003, Faris raised doubt that he was sincere when he pledged allegiance to the U.S. as part of his naturalization process in 1999.

“These facts establish Defendant affiliated with al Qaeda, a prohibited organization, within five years after naturalizing (indeed, within one year of naturalizing). That affiliation, in turn, is prima facie evidence Defendant was not attached to the principles of the Constitution or well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States, which are required to naturalize,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.

In 2003, Faris came under suspicion by the FBI and was questioned for weeks, first at a hotel outside Columbus, Ohio, and then at a safe house at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. He eventually admitted that he met with Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan, researched the use of ultralight aircraft for the group and explored the possibility of using gas-fired wire cutters in an effort to collapse the iconic bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan.

In May of that year, Faris appeared in a sealed courtroom in Alexandria and pleaded guilty to two felony counts involving material support to a terrorist organization. He later tried to back out of the plea, saying that he made up stories in order to sell a book. But a judge rejected Faris’ move and sentenced him to the maximum under the plea deal: 20 years. With standard “good time” credit for federal prisoners, Faris is currently set for release in December 2020.

In recent court filings, Faris — who turned 50 on Tuesday — has argued that he never would have pleaded guilty if he knew he could lose his U.S. citizenship as a result of his admissions. Neither his lawyer nor the judge who took the guilty plea advised him of that possibility, Faris says.

Faris also contends that the move to strip him of his citizenship is directly tied to his refusal to agree to assist prosecutors once his sentence is up.

“The United States brought [this] immigration action in response to Faris’s refusal to cooperate with federal authorities upon his release,” he wrote in a court filing last year.

Faris’ admitted refusal to cooperate appears to have extended through a recent deposition in his denaturalization case. Government lawyers say he took the Fifth Amendment in response to 176 of 390 questions he was asked.

Faris’ attorney in the denaturalization case, Thomas Durkin, said the government is trying to get a second chance to punish his client.

“We think it’s a mean-spirited attempt at further punishment and violates his original plea agreement with the government,” Durkin said.

The Chicago-based lawyer also sees the denaturalization effort signaling a panic across the government about convicts with Taliban, al-Qaida or terrorist ties emerging from prison after serving their time.

“There’s of course concern like with John Walker Lindh. Everyone is like, ‘Oh my God, now what are we going to do?’” Durkin said. “It’s 20 years later. These guys are starting to get out.”
A car departs a prison

A person reported to be “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh is seen leaving the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex by a white car early in the morning on May 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana. | John Sommers II/Getty Images

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on Faris’ case, but when officials first moved in 2017 to denaturalize him they defended the move. “The U.S. government is dedicated to strengthening the security of our nation and preventing the exploitation of our nation’s immigration system by those who would do harm to our country,” said Justice official Chad Readler, now a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals judge.

As POLITICO first reported, U.S. District Court Judge Staci Yandle last year turned down the government’s bid for a quick victory in the denaturalization case against Faris.

“American citizenship is precious, and the government carries a heavy burden of proof when attempting to divest a naturalized citizen of his or her citizenship,” Yandle wrote. “The Government’s arguments fall short of meeting its burden of clear, unequivocal, and convincing evidence.”

Now, however, Faris faces a more formidable challenge focused on his al-Qaida affiliation.

The government also accuses Faris of fraud for entering the U.S. in 1994 on another man’s passport and for claiming in an asylum application that he entered the U.S. in Buffalo, when he actually flew into JFK Airport in New York, and by claiming he traveled through Canada.

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DemocracyRules
DemocracyRules
4 years ago

“strip convicted terrorists of citizenship”
– the only politicos who oppose this
– want to make our lives worse
– by increasing domestic terrorism, crime, and hate
– [Cloward-Piven Strategy]

Poppey
Poppey
4 years ago

How refreshing it is to read of a western leader being direct and more clear headed than all the others by recognising what he has to do for people so they don’t lose faith in him and his government.

UK political establishment, please take note.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago
Reply to  Poppey

The LEFT will fight it tooth and nail.
They prefer terrorists and criminals over white, straight, law abiding citizens.
If you happen to be a Christian, then you are automatically deemed to be what ISLAM is all about and smeared into oblivion unless you side with the LEFT.

felix1999
felix1999
4 years ago

John Walker Lindh and Faris should be striped of citizenship and booted out.
NO SECOND CHANCES!
Get em out.

Ziggy46
Ziggy46
4 years ago

The Left and the treasonous Democrats will fight Trump tooth-and-nail on this issue. The Democrats and Islam are one; anti-Semitism, anti-Israel, and anti-American sentiment is a cornerstone of this political conspiracy.

Trump is right and has the fortitude to carry through stripping convicted terrorists of their citizenship. The Leftist/Democrat scourge, however, deems those of the political right, Jews and Christians as terrorists. No doubt, the RINOS are in complete accord with the Leftist/Democrats who in totality are culpable as Islam and the Jihadists.

Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
4 years ago

It should be the death penalty. Hang them. Firing squad. Lethal injection. Whatever. Terrorists should be executed.

Losing citizenship would be unnecessary if we treated terrorism like treason, which it bloody is.

AlgorithmicAnalyst
AlgorithmicAnalyst
4 years ago

Send them back to the jungle/wilderness/desert where they belong.

R. Arandas
R. Arandas
4 years ago

ANY civilized country would be doing this automatically.

santashandler
santashandler
4 years ago

“Faris also contends that the move to strip him of his citizenship is directly tied to his refusal to agree to assist prosecutors once his sentence is up.” Gee, really? Well, perhaps he should have cooperated then. Hopefully, Trump will strip him of something he never deserved in the first place. Then, be given a first class ride back home, strapped to a Tomahawk missile.

Roma Mikhasev
Roma Mikhasev
4 years ago

i like it! GBT!

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
4 years ago

During the Spanish Civil War in the ’30s, the FDR administration tried to prevent US citizens from entering the armed conflict, either side. They tried to use the Act of March 2, 1907 which states that any US citizen who takes up arms on behalf of a foreign sovereign would be stripped of their citizenship.

It was tried in court and the Supreme Court ruled that it violated the Eighth Amendment stricture against cruel and unusual punishment.

Not to worry though. Lindh has already shown he is too stupid to last very long in this life.

Badger
Badger
4 years ago

Deradicalisation is a dream. It worked so well in Germany after the war that over 50% of the members of the First Bundestag in 1949 were Nazis. (incidentally one of the first bills they passed was to abolish capital punishment)

To deradicalise a muslim means nothing less that having him knowingly and sincerely renounce his religion. There are no ‘radical’ or ‘fundamental’ muslims, they do not come is different shapes and sizes, they all live by the same rules wherever they may be. And one of those rules is called ’Taqiyya.’

A Somali or Afghani muslim is identical to a Dearborn or Tower Hamlets muslim in what they believe, their handbook is the koran which is identical everywhere. If politicians continue to insist it works, against all evidence to the contrary, then put them next door to Democratic politicians, preferably with young children in the family.

Watching the way Democrats do absolutely nothing but hate and try to frustrate Trump is a lesson in the destruction of the Western mind by cultural Marxism and post modernist critical analysis. They are big words for a mortal danger to any democratic society. I find it hard to believe that there are millions of Americans who will continue to vote Democrat.

Donna Garland
Donna Garland
4 years ago

About time, someone with actual common sense make ng the best decision I’ve heard in a long time…DEPORT THEM! It’s harder for those born on our homelands soil and are (apparently) citizens..scoff scoff! If it were me they’d be imprisoned for life if they can’t be, which brings me to the other lot. ANY immigrant who has been given a new home in a new land and all the luxuries that go with it are blessed beyond words. They have freedom, peace and prosperity, religious freedom, educational prospects etc etc etc apart from those who are genuinely grateful, those like Aynaz Anni Cyrus and give full allegiance to their new homeland and it’s people, the rest who are proven to be terrorists threats, those who preach hatred against the West, those who incite violence against the West, those who threaten our nations, our military, our political institutions, our education platforms and our freedoms should overnight be packed up and placed in POW camps until they are deported! The cost to fly them would be fair less expensive than the systems we have now. They do not deserve to be a day more on our blessed land. God created this for those of us who appreciate and respect it not those who want to destroy it. Any American, Australian, New Zealander, Brit, Frenchman/woman, Italian etc who fights to keep them here…should leave too! They are helping to prevent those of us trying to educate the ignorant and inform the naive on the truth of Islam and its death wish on the West!
I hope each and every one of us keep pushing the positive for President Trump because God help America if he loses!

colony14author
colony14author
4 years ago

“There’s [sic; there are] only two ways to lose your citizenship: one is when a person
voluntarily gives it up and two is when there’s some fraud or illegality
in its procurement…”

But allegiance to Shari’ah is in direct conflict with the oath of citizenship. Therefore, revoking citizenship and deporting jihadists (and phones like Ilah Omar) can be legally justified. My argument is here:

http://thecompleteobamatimeline.com/should-ilhan-omar-be-deported.html

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