{"id":22287,"date":"2019-12-12T07:18:59","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T12:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=22287"},"modified":"2020-02-21T06:49:50","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T11:49:50","slug":"foreign-nationals-terrorism-cato-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/12\/12\/foreign-nationals-terrorism-cato-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cato Institute’s Factually Flawed Attitude Toward Terrorism is Disturbing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On December 9, a Saudi national opened fire<\/a> at a naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, killing three people and injuring eight others. The shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was in the United States as part of a military program that allows some foreign military members to train inside the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just prior to the attacks, Alshamrani wrote on Twitter<\/a> that he hated Americans for \u201ccommitting crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity.\u201d He also blasted Washington for supporting the State of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the case is currently being treated as an act of terrorism, the FBI has yet to officially label it as such. \u201cWe are looking very hard at uncovering his motive and I would ask for patience so we can get this right,\u201d said<\/a> Rachel Rojas, who is the special agent in charge of the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the FBI is exercising\ncaution, mass-immigration proponent and self-proclaimed \u201celitist,\u201d Alex\nNowrasteh, director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, wants\nAmericans to believe that this horrific attack is no reason for even mild\nconcern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day of the shooting, Nowrasteh wrote a blog<\/a> suggesting that this incident doesn\u2019t make a case for stricter immigration measures. In the blog, he promotes a recent study of his that called acts of terrorism<\/a> in the United States committed by foreign-born individuals \u201ca manageable threat given the huge economic benefits of immigration and the relatively smaller costs of terrorism.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s right, when three Americans\nare murdered and eight others wounded, Nowrasteh wants us to remember that it\u2019s\nsimply a \u201crelatively small cost\u201d that should not factor into discussions regarding\nimmigration reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the tone-deaf timing and appalling\ninsensitivity, his blog and study are fatally flawed as well. In the report,\nNowrasteh does several things to make the threat of terrorism look smaller than\nit actually is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. He only lists the annual likelihood of a person being killed by a terrorist instead of the lifetime likelihood (which is a far higher and much more relevant statistic).<\/li>
  2. The total number of people who have died in the United States as a result of terrorism is understated.<\/li>
  3. He fails to consider those survivors who were seriously and\/or permanently harmed by acts of terrorism (a much higher total).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The \u201cabout 1 in 4 million per year\u201d\nnumber that Nowrasteh pushes is the purported likelihood that a person is\nkilled in the U.S. by a foreign-born terrorist in a particular year. This is\nproblematic because it only considers a very limited period of time, not a\nperson\u2019s entire life. The lifetime probability that a person might be killed,\nbased on Nowrasteh\u2019s figures, is actually closer to about 1 in 50,000. That\nnumber is considerably more alarming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Furthermore, Nowrasteh\u2019s figures\ndon\u2019t include those who die from conditions developed later in life as a result\nof a foreign-born terrorist attack, such as cancer and chronic respiratory\nconditions stemming from exposure to toxic rubble and ash produced on 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to Dr. Michael Caine<\/a>, Medical Director of the World Trade Center Health Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, since the attacks, \u201cmore than 2,000 deaths have been attributed to 9\/11 illnesses.\u201d These people should be considered victims of terrorism. Nowrasteh also excludes the thousands who suffer non-fatal injuries during attacks committed by foreign-born terrorists on American soil, as well as those who develop non-fatal health conditions later on like asthma or post-traumatic stress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Trying to predict the exact likelihood\nof a person dying in a terrorist attack of any kind is ultimately an impossible\nart since the threat of terrorism constantly changes due to a large number of\nfactors. But what we can conclude empirically is that the statistics loosely\ntossed around by the Cato Institute are designed to make the threat of foreign-born\nterrorism in the U.S. appear much lower than it actually is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We owe it to those brave police,\nfirefighters, first responders, and other everyday Americans who have suffered\nand\/or died due to terrorist attacks to craft immigration policies that prevent\nknown, suspected or potential foreign-born terrorists from entering the United\nStates. Nothing about the price they have paid is \u201csmall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    NOTE: This isn\u2019t the first time that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has called out the Cato Institute for publishing false or misleading statistics regarding immigration. In March of 2019, FAIR noted<\/a> that Nowrasteh and the Cato Institute vastly underestimated the rate at which illegal aliens commit crimes. As in this case, the incorrect statistics were used to promote irresponsible mass-immigration policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On December 9, a Saudi national opened fire at a naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, killing three people and injuring eight others. The shooter, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was in the United States as part of a military program that allows some foreign military members to train inside the United States. Just prior to the<\/p>\n

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