During his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump cited Justice Department terrorism figures:
According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country. We have seen the attacks at home — from Boston to San Bernardino to the Pentagon and yes, even the World Trade Center.
We have seen the attacks in France, in Belgium, in Germany and all over the world.
It is not compassionate, but reckless, to allow uncontrolled entry from places where proper vetting cannot occur. Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values.
We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America — we cannot allow our Nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.
That is why my Administration has been working on improved vetting procedures, and we will shortly take new steps to keep our Nation safe — and to keep out those who would do us harm.
The Associated Press “fact check” on this claim pretends that Trump pulls this number out of thin air:
#APFactCheck: The terror threat posed by those coming from overseas? Trump overstates it. https://t.co/dBfohEZLvV pic.twitter.com/Wb95JduK3h
— Just the Facts: Fresno (@JTFfresno) March 1, 2017
From the AP:
TRUMP: “According to data provided by the Department of Justice, the vast majority of individuals convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country. We have seen the attacks at home — from Boston to San Bernardino to the Pentagon and yes, even the World Trade Center.”
THE FACTS: It’s unclear what Justice Department data he’s citing, but the most recent government information that has come out doesn’t back up his claim. Just over half the people Trump talks about were actually born in the United States, according to research from the Department of Homeland Security revealed last week. That report said of 82 people the government determined were inspired by a foreign terrorist group to attempt or carry out an attack in the U.S., just over half were native-born citizens.
This terrorism data identifying 280 terrorism cases from 9/11/2001-12/31/2014 come from a Justice Department letter (dated January 13, 2016) sent to Senator Ted Cruz and then-Senator (now Attorney General) Jeff Sessions. This letter is provided below.
When the staff of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest examined the open-source data for the 580 cases, this is what they found:
Based on open-source research conducted on a list provided by the Department of Justice, the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest has determined that at least 380 of the 580 individuals convicted of terrorism or terrorism-related offenses between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2014, were born abroad.
On August 12, 2015, December 3, 2015, and January 11, 2016, letters were sent to the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State, requesting the immigration histories of individuals implicated in terrorism since early 2014. For over 10 months, the Obama Administration has refused to provide this crucial and easily accessible information. Since sending the last letter on January 11, however, the Subcommittee has identified 18 additional individuals implicated in terrorism since early 2014 – bringing the total to 131, of whom at least 16 were initially admitted to the United States as refugees, and at least 17 of whom are the natural-born citizen children of immigrants.
However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) did provide the Subcommittee with a list it maintains of 580 individuals not only implicated, but convicted, of terrorism or terrorism-related offenses between September 11, 2001 and December 31, 2014. DOJ has deferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide immigration background information regarding these individuals, but to this day, DHS has not done so – despite having the information on the foreign-born easily accessible in its records and databases.
Using this list, the Subcommittee conducted open-source research and determined that at least 380 of the 580 were foreign-born (71 were confirmed natural-born, and the remaining 129 are not known). Of the 380 foreign-born, at least 24 were initially admitted to the United States as refugees, and at least 33 had overstayed their visas. Additionally, of those born abroad, at least 62 were from Pakistan, 28 were from Lebanon, 22 were Palestinian, 21 were from Somalia, 20 were from Yemen, 19 were from Iraq, 16 were from Jordan, 17 were from Egypt, and 10 were from Afghanistan.
So Trump is correct: 380 of 580 (65.5%, or just under 2/3) were in fact foreign born.
It is no mystery, contra the Associated Press, where this data came from. And as you can note, all of these cases involved Category I, II, and III terrorism offenses.
That notwithstanding, some in the media and terrorism industry began throwing out other terrorism numbers from a number of difference sources with no reference to the Justice Department data cited by President Trump:
According to New America's database, 84% of terrorism in the US is committed by US citizens or permanent residents. pic.twitter.com/6aojDGc0Eq
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) March 1, 2017
147 people have plotted or carried out post-9/11 attacks in America:
104 citizens
20 legal permanent residents
8 temporary visa
2 #refugees— Brian M. Jenkins (@BrianMJenkins) February 13, 2017
As I’ve had to note here at PJ Media previously, terrorism data can be sliced and diced in any number of different ways.
FACT CHECK: Islamic Terrorists Have Killed More In Domestic Attacks Since 9/11 Than the 'Ri… https://t.co/I895dZkT3r #homelandsecurity
— PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) August 18, 2016
But in this instance, this is official Justice Department data of terrorism convictions — and Senate Judiciary Committee staff analysis of that data.
You may not like Trump’s positions, but attempts to falsify this data don’t remotely comport with the Obama Justice Department.
Consider this fact check: FAILED
Justice Department terrorism statistics 2001-2014 by pspoole2649 on Scribd
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