One day after the horrific terror attack on civilians in Nice, France, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) took to Twitter to call on President Obama to “immediately deport” immigrants on terror watch lists.
In a series of tweets, Duncan proposed that the president “halt the Syrian refugee resettlement program” and “immediately deport any non-citizens listed on a terror-watch list.” He later added that immigrants would be given a deportation hearing, “thus protecting due process.”
Duncan also suggested that the United States should be “careful” with “who we’re granting citizenship to and which countries we allow immigration from,” calling for a closer scrutiny of the visa waiver program with the European Union, which allows visa-free travel between United States and European Union residents.
GOP @RepJeffDuncan calls for the deportation of "any non-citizens listed on a terror-watch list" after #Nice attack pic.twitter.com/vRtAfj4ORI
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) July 15, 2016
Duncan claimed that the FBI director has made comments about the country being unable to “fully vet Syrian refugees.” Though FBI Director James Comey previously said that there are challenges to the process, screening has actually become more effective and efficient over the past eight years. In fact, Syrian refugees undergo a strenuous screening process that may take as long as two years, including several layers of security clearance and background checks.
The estimated number of people on the terror watch list could range from 700,000 to more than 1.5 million people, a vast majority of whom are immigrants and foreigners. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), which maintains the largest terrorist list called Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE), found that only 25,000 people — or 2.3 percent — of the 1.1 million people on the consolidated watch list are American citizens or legal permanent residents. That means the list could ensnare a lot of immigrants, both legal and undocumented, into the deportation dragnet, which already removed more than 235,000 immigrants last year.
But there aren’t clear-cut guidelines that determine who goes on the watch list, which can be used for religious and racial profiling. Many people shouldn’t be there in the first place. According to classified documents obtained by the Intercept, the terrorist watch list includes 280,000 people who the government says have no recognized terrorist affiliation at all. People with similar names that match or resemble the ones on the federal terror watch list are routinely flagged at airports, including children. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy — though not on a no-fly list — was put on a selectee list to undergo additional security screening before he was able to board planes.
Under Duncan’s proposal, immigrants may also run into a problem once they’re detained inside detention centers while awaiting a hearing with an immigration judge during their deportation hearings. There are currently 492,978 people waiting in the backlog to see an immigration judge, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
Still, Duncan’s proposal may not be too far off from the other extreme anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant policies that other politicians have advocated since the attack in France. Newt Gingrich, one of the contenders for a running mate for presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, called for the deportation of Muslims who abide by Sharia, arguing that they’re incompatible with Western civilization. And Rep. Peter King (R-NY), a longtime anti-Muslim lawmaker, quickly called for the mass surveillance of Muslim Americans, saying that holding back would be a “sign of weakness.” Trump himself started blaming Muslims for the attack just minutes after it happened.