Faris ... was not born in the United States, and the Trump administration has a controversial plan for him as he’s about to be released: strip him of his U.S. citizenship and kick him out of the country. Or perhaps keep him behind bars indefinitely.
And Trump would absolutely want to lock him up permanently.
quote:
Trump said he checked with top lawyers in government who told him that there was no way to head off Lindh’s release. “If there was, I would have done it instantly,” the president said.
There's only one problem.
quote:
“The Supreme Court has said there’s no excommunication when it comes to citizenship,” said Case Western Reserve University law professor Andra Robertson. “There’s only two ways to lose your citizenship: one is when a person voluntarily gives it up and two is when there’s some fraud or illegality in its procurement … If you’re a native-born citizen, obviously you didn’t commit fraud to get your citizenship, so only a naturalized citizen can lose their citizenship involuntarily.”
Ah, so let's argue they committed fraud!
quote:
“These facts establish Defendant affiliated with al Qaeda, a prohibited organization, within five years after naturalizing (indeed, within one year of naturalizing). That affiliation, in turn, is prima facie evidence Defendant was not attached to the principles of the Constitution or well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States, which are required to naturalize,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.
And would the next step be stripping citizenship from native-born Americans?
quote:
There is a long-standing federal law on the books that appears to allow even native-born Americans to lose their citizenship for acts akin to treason. However, it’s unclear how the statute would apply in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling half a century ago that Americans can only lose their citizenship through a voluntary, intentional decision on their part.
Nonetheless, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has made repeated efforts to expand that citizenship-stripping provision in the law to cover a broader category of people who provide material support to terrorist groups. Cruz’s Expatriate Terrorist Act would clear the way to cancel the citizenship of any American who aids al-Qaida, ISIS or similar groups. The bill, first offered in 2014, hasn’t made it out of committee.
I'm sure they don't. I understand the emotional desire to do this, but the legal path does not exist - unless you try to find some tortured misapplication. Rule of law is often a two edged sword.
-------------------------------- "A mob is a place where people go to get away from their conscience" Atticus Finch
