OPINION:
Between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2016, 549 people were convicted of international terror offenses in United States federal court. Of those convicted terrorists, 254 were foreign-born non-citizens accounting for 73% of the convictions, according to a senior administration official who provided the data for reporters during a background briefing Tuesday.
The high percentage of foreign-born non-citizens convicted of terror activities in the United States “highlights the importance of reforming the immigration system,” the administration official said, including the “importance of ending the practices of chain migration and the visa lottery system.”
In addition to the terror convictions since 9/11, 1,716 aliens have been removed from the country for “national security concerns,” the administration official said.
The briefing occurred in a political climate where Democrats (and many Republicans) in congress are threatening a government shut-down if they do not receive a “clean DACA bill” which would provide legal status to so-called “DREAMers,” illegal aliens who were brought to the US while they were minors.
President Trump has insisted that legalization for this class of illegal aliens must be linked to ending chain migration and the visa lottery system, not to mention border security enhancements including a wall on the Mexican/American border.
“We are asking the US Congress to work with the administration to reform the immigration system to tighten and close loopholes that permit some of these threats to enter or remain in the US for too long,” the senior administration official said.
“We are committed to protecting the American people,” he said.
