White House Fuels Immigration Debate With Terrorism Statistics

The following article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Ron Nixon was posted on the New York Times website January 16, 2018:

Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, called the report’s findings “truly chilling data” during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. Credit Erin Schaff for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday released a report attempting to link immigrants to terrorism, presenting statistics showing that the vast majority of people convicted of international terrorism charges in the United States over the past 15 years were born in foreign countries.

The report came amid a politically charged push by the Trump administration to enact new restrictions on immigration, in part by arguing that the current system puts the country at risk. The 11-page report, parts of which were confusing and in some respects misleading, highlighted cases in which immigrants were linked to terrorism plots after being admitted to the country as part of the diversity visa lottery, or because they were related to American citizens or legal residents. Continue reading “White House Fuels Immigration Debate With Terrorism Statistics”