Posted on 09/19/2014 4:36:29 PM PDT by VitacoreVision
Senator Ted Cruz isn’t one to throw a bone to the Obama administration. But a new bill that he introduced would give the government enormous new powers when it comes to national security.
It’s called the “Expatriate Terrorist Act” and on the surface its intentions seem good enough. It allows the United States to revoke the citizenship of anyone fighting for or aiding a terrorist group like ISIS.
“If we do not pass this legislation, the consequence will be that Americans fighting alongside ISIS today may come home tomorrow with a U.S. passport, may come home to New York or Los Angeles or Houston or Chicago and innocent Americans may be murdered if the Senate does not act today,” Cruz said yesterday.
The Cruz bill is similar to one former senator Scott Brown introduced last year, co-sponsored with former senator Joe Lieberman. Earlier this week Brown appeared on Fox News to boast that he’d given Cruz the idea.
As many as 100 U.S. citizens are believed to have linked up with ISIS, all of whom could theoretically return home and stage an attack on the United States. So Cruz’s idea is common sense, right?
There’s just one problem: Cruz’s bill allows the feds to strip someone of citizenship without requiring due process for suspects. As Ian Millhiser points out:
Should Cruz’s bill become law, [the government] would only need to prove it by a “preponderance of the evidence” standard — which is to say there’s a lot of evidence against the suspect, but it’s not necessarily an iron-clad case. That’s a much lower burden of proof on the government than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard that applies in criminal proceedings.
Meaning Ted Cruz is actually ceding an enormous power to Barack Obama’s government: the ability to revoke someone’s citizenship without meeting the usual high standards of the criminal justice system.
Plus, as Millhiser notes, the crime of aiding and abetting ISIS is already covered in the Constitution: it’s treason, and treason has a much higher evidentiary standard than just a “preponderance of the evidence.”
Yesterday Democrats blocked Cruz’s bill in the Senate, saying that more time was needed to review its constitutional implications. As they do so, let’s hope they remember Senator Rand Paul’s words on Anwar al-Awlaki who was killed by a United States drone strike.
“In our country, even if you are a terrible person, if you are murderer or a rapist, you are accused, but then you’re given a chance to confront your accusers,” Paul said. “The burden is on the government.”
So, where will you go when your citizenship is revoked? I don’t know much about New Zealand, but it looked nice on Babe. Singapore seems ok. What about the rest of you? Or maybe you can tell me where to go, not that you ever need an excuse before?
There are already laws on the books that strip citizenship from those who fight for a foreign nation against America.
A narrow reading of the law could be interpreted to exclude the scum who fight for ISIS because they aren’t technically a nation.
Personally I can overlook the lack of nationhood of ISIS.
Sen. Cruz us giving progressives strokes. They’ve got to attack him from every conceivable angle. lol
I don’t think you can just “go” to New Zealand or Singapore. I suspect their immigration laws aren’t as lax as ours.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, and I hope I am. The U.S. used to be the place to go to to flee tyranny. Where to go from here?
i have been to New Zealand and I have relatives there. NZ is very liberal, extremely beautiful but VERY liberal.
“If we do not pass this legislation, the consequence will be that Americans fighting alongside ISIS today may come home tomorrow with a U.S. passport, may come home to New York or Los Angeles or Houston or Chicago and innocent Americans may be murdered if the Senate does not act today,” Cruz said yesterday.
Here is where he is wrong in my view.
If they are caught in acts of sedition, try them, using the courts, or kill them on the battlefield as they are engaged in said acts.
To just decide their citizenship should be revoked without due process in their own country by fiat is wrong.
Yeah. I know you just can’t go, but if they revoke my citizenship, I am a man without a country. I’m pretty sure if you lose your citizenship because you are labeled a suspected terrorist the number of countries open to you is slim and not good.
To go to any of those countries you have to anti up big bucks for business, or have a skill they really want or you don’t get in.
Panama, Uraquay (socialist), Ecuador, and Costa Rica are the easiest expat countries.
But they can be punished for same.
Should this pass, the unintended consequences will be horrific. Democrats will quickly abuse this law. Soon, any crime the Democrats don't like (such as owning the wrong firearm) could make you an UnPerson. Remember, once you are no longer a citizen, you have no protection under the Bill of Rights.
This idea of Cruz's gets the Nope Train treatment from me.
Too hot. Isn’t interesting that so many terrorist nations are so hot? I think it is that and polygamy that make these guys want to blow themselves up and it isn’t so much the multiple wives that makes them nuts, it is the multiple mother in laws that make them suicidal.
You are right, if your fighting for ISIS I say blow your damn brains out and let the world be done with you.
Cruz is an attorney and he’s very good at it, so he knows how to write a bill that doesn’t do what you say it does.
So tell me, why do you support ISIS?
My citizenship? Well I won’t be joining up with ISIS so I am not worried about it. Any scum that joins ISIS should not only lose their citizenship but should be in prison or shot - my preference is to kill them.
How long will it take for republicans or christians to be declared a terrorist group and citizenship revoked.
It’s been done before. You might remember the jews in germany. they were not even considered persons.
if he wants to start a crisis where he can order government thugs to shoot people he doesn’t like, that’s how he can provoke his own desired crisis to exploit.
and if you think he won’t consider revoking citizenship this way,
consider he wants to grant citizenship via an executive order, for millions and millions of people he does like. whether he has the authority or not - and he doesn’t.
Yeah, because once a precendent (like losing citizenship) has been set, we have NEVER seen Democrats twist and abuse the precendent.
Own the wrong gun? UnPerson.
Eat meat against regulations? UnPerson.
Too much carbon output? UnPerson.
Citizenship should NEVER be lost for the conviction of ANY crime, even treason. We should apply the usual punishments, instead.
Hmmm...just how many folks have ever been charged with treason in this country anyhow?
This is the list, according to Wikipedia:
Robert Henry Best, convicted of treason on April 16, 1948 and served a life sentence.
John Brown, convicted of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1859 and executed for attempting to organize armed resistance to slavery.
Iva Toguri D'Aquino, who is frequently identified with "Tokyo Rose" convicted 1949. Subsequently pardoned by President Gerald Ford.
Governor Thomas Dorr 1844, convicted of treason against the state of Rhode Island; see Dorr Rebellion; released in 1845; civil rights restored in 1851; verdict annulled in 1854.
Mildred Gillars, also known as "Axis Sally", convicted of treason on March 8, 1949; served 12 years of a 10- to 30-year prison sentence.
Herbert Hans Haupt, German-born naturalized U.S. citizen, was convicted of treason in 1942 and executed after being named as a German spy by fellow German spies defecting to the United States.
Tomoya Kawakita, sentenced to death for treason in 1952, but eventually released by President John F. Kennedy to be deported to Japan.
Martin James Monti, United States Army Air Forces pilot, convicted of treason for defecting to the Waffen SS in 1944. He was paroled in 1960.
William Bruce Mumford, convicted of treason and hanged in 1862 for tearing down a United States flag during the American Civil War.
Aaron Dwight Stevens, took part in John Brown's raid and was executed in 1860 for treason against Virginia.
Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold, and George Atzerodt, all convicted by military tribunal and hanged on July 7, 1865 for treason and conspiracy related to the Lincoln assassination.
Samuel Mudd, convicted with the above, pardoned by President Andrew Johnson after assisting in the containment of a yellow fever outbreak.
Philip Vigol and John Mitchell, convicted of treason and sentenced to hanging; pardoned by George Washington; see Whiskey Rebellion.
WHy do you think I support ISIS? I support this ISIS:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072516/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdBRLV6PGro
Joanna Cameron is kinda hot.
What the bill says is they can revoke your citizenship on a preponderance of the evidence not beyond reasonable doubt. As they like to label veterans and 2nd amendment folks as terrorist or potential terrorist, and it isn’t really a stretch to get a jury or judge to believe that, especially the 9th circuit, there is a chance a few Freepers could be looking for a new home.
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