A new report exposes the fact that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s application for naturalization doesn’t ask immigrants if they are a part of specific Islamic terrorist organizations.
According to The Washington Examiner, the application does ask those applying if they have ever been involved with a terror organization in general, but they don’t specifically ask them if they have ever been involved with Islamic terror organizations like al-Qaeda or ISIS. However, the application will ask immigrants if they are:
- Nazis
- Communists
- Polygamists
- Drunks
- Involved with Colombian terror groups.
Statistics on the number of immigrants that have been admitted to being a part of terrorist organizations are also not “readily available.”
Homeland security expert Mark Sauter told the Examiner “that the questions about terror group involvement are required by federal law, meaning that congressional action is needed to include modern-day threats in the written questions.” In other words, the form needs to be updated.
Sauter explained to the Examiner why questions about terror affiliation are important for national security purposes.
“Critics of improved screening say that terrorists will just lie – that may be true in many cases, but misses the point that getting applicants on the record now can be a critical law enforcement tool later,” Sauter said.
This report adds some teeth to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s calls for better vetting and a temporary ban on immigration from Islamic countries. While his proposals are short on specifics, they do at least highlight the importance to make changes to the current immigration system.
The lack of crucial questioning is playing with fire, as it provides terrorists affiliated with ISIS and al-Qaeda to slip through the cracks of the immigration system, hence making the country more vulnerable to a terror attack. Trump would be wise to take this report and use it to strengthen his argument for changing the system.
Source: The Daily Wire
