Bid to strip terrorist's citizenship may mark new Trump way

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Michael Tarm, Ap Legal Affairs Writer Updated 6:59 pm, Tuesday, March 21, 2017



CHICAGO (AP) — The Department of Justice has taken the rare step of seeking to strip a convicted terrorist of his U.S. citizenship as he serves the last several years of a 20-year prison sentence for plotting to destroy New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

Some national security experts suggested Tuesday the move might signal a new, tougher line under President Donald Trump.

The case involves Iyman Faris, 47 and born in Pakistan, who was sentenced in 2003 for aiding and abetting the al-Qaida terrorist group with his plan to cut through cables that support the iconic bridge. At the time, it was among the highest profile terrorism cases in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

A 17-page filing Monday in U.S. District Court in southern Illinois where Faris is imprisoned launched a revocation process that is likely to take years. The court filing argues that Faris lied on immigration papers before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1999 and that his terrorist affiliations demonstrated a lack of commitment to the U.S. Constitution.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Bid-to-strip-terrorist-s-citizenship-may-mark-new-11017570.php

[dalton99a]

1. He might do the same thing to naturalized citizens who piss him off - investigate and denaturalize.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Exactly what I fear (and suspect)

[cstanleytech]

3. Possible but unlikely

https://bmkllp.com/newsletters/immigration/loss-of-citizenship-for-u-s-born-citizens/

[SunSeeker]

4. Your link says even natural born citizens can lose citizenship if they commit treason.

Flynn and Manafort come to mind...

[cstanleytech]

7. Yes but if I am reading it correctly it cannot be arbitrarily done at a whim and the conditions

under which it can be done are unique and the reason they are going after this guy in the OP is based on the claim that he lied on his application which is one of the ways a person that was not born here but was granted citizenship can loose it.

[SunSeeker]

8. "Lying on your application" is in the eyes of the beholder and can cover a lot of stuff.

Remember, that was one of the main ways insurance companies denied coverage in the bad old days before the ACA barred pre-existing condition exclusions. I imagine that a Trump appointee would always find a lie, and a judge like Gorsuch with a swinging brick for a heart would uphold it.

[cstanleytech]

9. True but then again he was convicted and serving time so its likely they will be able to

do it but its gonna take years because he does the right to appeal and other stuff unless of course he waives those rights.

[Yo_Mama]

10. Only if they lied materially on their apps, and that has always been the case.

I don't see the problem with this case. It's an individual thing.

We've revoked citizenship for Nazis, etc. When we discover that a naturalized citizen has engaged/supported terror elsewhere, we generally do pursue revocation. Why should it be different when the terror activity is domestic?

These are rare cases, of course.

Same thing with legal residence - the two guys who came in from Iraq and were later found to have been building and deploying IEDs in Iraq. If they ever get out, they should be deported.

[IronLionZion]

5. Eventually posting insults about him on social media will be declared terrorism

and we'll all lose our citizenship and be sent to the camps

[treestar]

6. Same thing done to the Nazis

like Demjanjuk.

[Bradical79]

11. If he's a terrorist who also lied on his papers, it sounds fine.

Of course the man in charge is Donald Trump, meaning it will likely be used as precedent to go after non-violent imigrants, and maybe natural born U.S. citizens too.

[mpcamb]

12. Let's not leave out those white militia guys who commit acts of terror. Strip them of citizenship.

Start there.