Ted Cruz Bill: Join ISIS And Forfeit Right To Be U.S. Citizen
Senator Ted Cruz from Texas is proposing a bill that will send a clear message, with consequences, to American citizens who go overseas to join terrorist forces such as ISIS. If you join, you forfeit the right to be a citizen of the United States of America.
It is called the Expatriate Terrorist Act of 2014, reports The Hill. Senator Ted Cruz is slated to introduce the bill next week when Congress is called back into session.
The bill would provide that any American who goes overseas to join terrorist groups, such as ISIS, which are fighting against United States interests would lose their citizenship. According to Newsmax, Ted Cruz’s bill would amend existing law passed in 1940 that defines that any person voting in another country’s elections or joining the military forces of nations at war with the United States would be stripped of their citizenship.
Language proposed by Ted Cruz is aimed specifically at those who join groups like ISIS, and would add to the current law that any citizen becoming a member of, fighting for, or providing training or material assistance to a designated foreign terrorist organization that is working to attack the United States or its citizens would also forfeit their citizenship.
Recently, government officials have warned that at least a dozen, and possibly more than 100, Americans are in Syria and Iraq fighting with ISIS and other terrorist groups.
The Daily Mail reports that, on Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said, “We have acknowledged publicly we are aware of over 100 U.S. citizens who have U.S. passports who are fighting in the Middle East with ISIL forces [previously known as ISIS].”
Previous reports held that number to be about a dozen who are fighting with ISIS. Col. Steve Warren explains the discrepancy:
“We believe that there are approximately 100 American passport holders operating inside of Syria, we don’t know specifically who they are aligning themselves with. We believe that there are maybe a dozen that are with ISIL.”
The Inquisitr recently reported that a dual citizen who grew up in Boston, Ahmad Abousamra, is believed to be the mastermind behind the sophisticated social media campaign utilized by ISIS in its multi-faceted attacks of fear aimed at its enemies, including the U.S. He is believed to be in Syria, and is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list.
The Expatriate Terrorist Act is a measure being proposed by Ted Cruz to combat the possibility of those people coming back to the states from ISIS to wreak havoc.
“Americans who choose to go to Syria or Iraq to fight with vicious ISIS terrorists are party to a terrorist organization committing horrific acts of violence, including beheading innocent American journalists who they have captured.
“There can be no clearer renunciation of their citizenship in the United States, and we need to do everything we can to preempt any attempt on their part to re-enter our country and carry out further attacks on American civilians.”
Ted Cruz’s proposal follows in the footsteps, reports the New York Daily News, of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposal last week to the House of Commons for law enforcement to be granted the power to seize passports at the border of any UK citizens suspected of having joined ISIS.
The terrorists of ISIS have been quite bold in making threats to the people of the United States. Senator Ted Cruz’s proposal is a common sense measure to protect the citizens of the United States who share the values of freedom, liberty, and life from those whose ultimate goal is to destroy all that Americans hold dear. Let us hope that Congress will act more effectively on this measure than it has at securing the borders thus far. ISIS must not be allowed to gain a foothold in the U.S.
[images via AP and imgarcade]
