Immigration enforcement can fight terrorism. That\u2019s what two of the 9\/11 Commissioners told Senators on this date three years ago.<\/p>\n
On March 30, 2011, nearly a decade after the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, the Commission\u2019s Chairman Tom Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton testified<\/a> before the Homeland Security Committee. Kean said, \u201cborder security remains a top national security priority, because there is an indisputable nexus between terrorist operations and terrorist travel.\u201d<\/p>\n Kean specifically identified three terrorists \u201cwho could have been detected by the U.S. immigration system\u201d:<\/p>\n 1. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab 2. Hosam Smadi 3. Faisal Shahzad These terrorists may have come from different countries and had varied targets, but in all three cases, the immigration nexus was indisputably present.\u00a0 Tighter immigration enforcement could have kept them from having access to the United States.\u00a0 Immigration policy is also national security policy.
\nTerrorism attempt: On Christmas Day, 2009, this Nigerian national attempted to detonate plastic explosives concealed in his underwear<\/a>.
\nImmigration Nexus: In November 2009, the CIA had listed Abdulmutallab on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment list, but he was not added to the FBI’s 400,000-name Terrorist Screening Database, which feeds into the U.S. no fly list.\u00a0 He boarded Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Michigan using a valid U.S. visa.<\/p>\n
\nTerrorism attempt: On September 24, 2009, this Jordanian national plotted to detonate a car bomb in the garage beneath a Dallas 60-story office building<\/a>.
\nImmigration Nexus: He came to the United States on a tourist visa in 2007 but overstayed.\u00a0 Violating immigration status is a deportable offense.\u00a0 See<\/i> INA \u00a7 237.<\/p>\n
\nTerrorism attempt: On May 1, 2010, he attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square<\/a>.
\nImmigration Nexus: In 2009, this Pakistani national became a naturalized citizen<\/a>, but later received training on suicide bombs from an instructor in the Pakistani Taliban<\/a>. \u00a0Membership in a terrorist organization within five years of naturalization is grounds for revocation of naturalization. See<\/i> INA \u00a7 340(c).<\/p>\n