WASHINGTON — Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) joined Texas Senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz (R) this week in authoring a letter to the Obama administration demanding to know how many of the people arrested in the United States on terrorism-related charges entered the country legally or illegally.
“We have identified at least 72 individuals in the United States who, over the last year: have engaged in or attempted to engage in acts of terrorism; conspired or attempted to conspire to provide material support to a terrorist organization; engaged in criminal conduct inspired by terrorist ideology; or who have been sentenced for any of the foregoing,” Sens. Sessions and Cruz wrote. “We would like to understand more about these individuals, and others similarly situated in recent history, and the nexus between terrorism and our immigration system.”
“FBI Director James Comey warned that while ‘we are stopping [terrorist plots] so far through tremendous hard work… it is incredibly difficult. I cannot see me stopping these indefinitely,’” they noted in the letter. “Just one week later, five of our fine service members were murdered in an act of terrorism in Chattanooga.”
The Chattanooga shooter, a Kuwait-born alumnus of University of Tennessee-Chattanooga who held dual U.S.-Jordanian citizenship, is suspected to have been radicalized by islamic extremists prior to his attack on a military recruiting center.
In order to answer their question, Sessions and Cruz asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to reveal to Congress how many Americans, whether non-citizens, naturalized, or natural-born U.S. citizens have been involved in terrorist-related activity since 1993.
Senator Sessions has long been one of the most outspoken members of Congress on the topic of immigration, calling for stricter border control, and immigration policies that protect American workers. More recently, Sen. Cruz, the son of an immigrant, has made immigration policy—and more specifically the fight against amnesty—a central part of his presidential campaign.
“There are too many politicians in Washington that talk a good game but don’t act,” Cruz said during a recent congressional testimony. “If you want to honor Josh [Wilkerson], if you want to honor Kate Steinle, start enforcing the law and stop releasing murderers, and rapists, and drunk drivers…
“I don’t want to hear from the Obama administration they’re sorry while they continue to do the exact same thing because what we know – more people will be murdered, more people will be raped, more people will be killed by drunk drivers because this Administration refuses to enforce the law. That is wrong. No man is above the law, and that includes President Obama…”
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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