Why not? When they went to fight for the Islamic State, they were joining an entity that considers itself at war with the United States. That is treason, and they should be treated like traitors or enemy combatants. But that, of course, would require a sane administration and media establishment.
“State Dept. Has Not Cancelled Passports of Any ‘ISIS or Foreign Fighters’ Returning to U.S.,” by Susan Jones, CNS News, December 3, 2014 (thanks to Lookmann):
(CNSNews.com) – The United States must use “all of the tools at our disposal” to deal with the threat posed by Americans and other Westerners who go to Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS, a State Department official told Congress on Tuesday.
But so far, that does not include revoking the passports of U.S. citizens who have traveled to Syria to fight with ISIS.
“Has the State Department cancelled the passports of any U.S. citizens who have joined any terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq?” Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) asked Ambassador Robert Bradtke on Tuesday at a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.
“To my knowledge, the State Department has not cancelled any passports,” responded Bradtke, a senior adviser with the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism who was called out of retirement to focus on foreign fighters.
“As Secretary Kerry said, he does have the authority to revoke passports. And this is something we would only do in relatively rare and unique circumstances because of the importance for average Americans (to) have the freedom to travel,” Bradtke said.
“We would only do it also in consultations with law enforcement authorities. And we have not yet had any requests from law enforcement authorities to cancel the passports of ISIS or foreign fighters. So again, we have the authority; it is one tool; we do have other tools to use as well in this regard.”
A second government official told lawmakers that the no-fly list is one of those other tools:
“Congressman, if we have indications that someone on the no-fly list is trying to fly back to the United States, we would deny them boarding,” said Thomas Warrick a deputy assistant secretary for counter-terrorism policy at the Department of Homeland Security.
“If someone shows up in the United States and there’s indications that that person has been a foreign fighter in Syria, it would be referred to the FBI, and then it would be a matter for law enforcement,” Warrick explained.
“We would have the ability at the border to ask any questions that were necessary and appropriate; we would have the ability and the authority to inspect their luggage, inspect their personal possessions, in order to determine whether they were or were not a foreign fighter who had been fighting with ISIL. Anything like this, I can assure you, is taken extremely seriously.”
Later in the hearing, Warrick was asked what would happen if an Irish national, for example, tried to come to the U.S. after fighting with terrorists in Syria.
“Where somebody has been identified as a foreign fighter fighting for ISIL in Syria…they’re going to be in all likelihood on a no-fly list or another list of the U.S. government that is going to attract a great deal of attention before they’re allowed to get on board an airplane for the United States.”
But Warrick admitted that the no-fly list can’t guarantee that foreign fighters will be kept out of this country:
“Well, they wouldn’t be able to fly here,” he said. “The no-fly list obviously doesn’t apply to other modes of transportation. However, I can assure you that there are equal or equivalent measures in place so that somebody on the no-fly list is almost certainly not going to be allowed entry into the United States, if they come by cruise ship or if they fly to Canada, for example…and they were to try, let’s say, to come across the U.S.-Canadian border.”
No one mentioned the U.S.-Mexico border, which was overwhelmed by an influx of people from Central America just a few months ago….
Jeff says
Obama is going to do as much damage to the USA in his last 2 years as he can. I think his presidency and admin will be the undoing of the progressives for many years to come. People are getting wise to them.
noellsq says
Our POTUS only thinks of himself nothing about this country. He would do what ever the UN wanted. I believe him and Holder have put race relations back 20 years. I also believe that he believes in ISIS but will not say so. Why did he wait so long to start bombing?
Don McKellar says
Welcome back, nazis and SS men on leave from your positions at the concentration camps — to go camping in Yellowstone! Welcome back, communists on leave from your position with KGB selling American secrets, so you can winter in Miami! Welcome back Islamic jihadi, on vacation from your work with the Islamic State, murdering, enslaving, raping, plotting bombings of Amercian targets, and now kicking it in your uncle the sheik’s Beverly Hills estate! Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back!
somehistory says
These guys, like Kerry, and his boss, cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
“Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils (Isaiah 2:22.”
gp says
The White House was much too busy attending the Ferguson funeral and following the mischief of Eric Holder and Al Sharpton to worry about ISIS and terrorists and the safety of America. After all, the bad guys are the police not ISIS terrorists who are simply following the “Religion of Peace”.
Myxlplik says
“That is treason, and they should be treated like traitors or enemy combatants. But that, of course, would require a sane administration and media establishment.”
I think our administration is quite sane, they know who the Muslim Brotherhood is, what it stands for and what it’s goals are, yet it has and continues to allow the M.B. to drive it’s policies in regards to Islam and the Middle East. What our administration does or doesn’t do regarding traitors fighting for ISIS is entirely in line with its over all treasons policies.
Obama and all of his MB handlers should be prosecuted for treason, and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Salah says
“Obama and all of his MB handlers should be prosecuted for treason, and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Amen to that.
Richie says
Because liberals like Obama are pro Islam because of their shared hatreds; a hatred of the Jews and desire to see the Jews driven out of Israel
Tom W Harris says
Kerry looks more like a hairdresser than a diplomat in that pic. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Lorensacho says
Well maybe the State Department is too busy cancelling the visa of an Israeli basketball player owned by the Indiana Pacers to spend any time on security threats like retuning Jihadists.
BW022 says
This is just amazing. Canada revoked passports of ISIS suspects back in September. It didn’t need any specific requests from law enforcement, nor can I understand why the US States Department wouldn’t take some initiative and simply ask the FBI if it wanted to revoke passports?
Yes… I could imagine some cases in which you might not wish to pull a passport because you *want* that person travelling for some ongoing covert surveillance, they work for the CIA or something, but… if they are on a no-fly-list anyway… why not revoke the passport just to make extra sure… and to make it harder for anyone on a boat or land crossing to get into the US — or third country. More importantly, “no-fly list” does not mean arrest and hold. Someone with a pulled passport would be arrested upon entry into a country — since they can’t be returned.
There is no harm to any American citizens. Even if you made a mistake and pulled the wrong passport (assuming that person was outside the US at the time), the worst that would happen is someone would arrive in the US or third country with an pulled passport and be stopped by their immigration folks. They would then be held and the embassy or FBI contacted. They could then interview that person and quickly determine if an obvious mistake was made — they are six years-old, they couldn’t be in Syria since they were in the US, etc.
I’m starting to wonder if the US just doesn’t want to deal with the fact that it is going to end up with such people returning and it is going to need to actually have laws, courts, prisons, etc. do deal with this?
john says
as i see this country foundation crumble .i am troubled about why are family values are being attacked by so many fronts.what made this country great over the last 200 years was love of GOD and country plus family was a way of life.now they blame everything on some else.accept no responsibility .and learn how evade the law of the land.you are seeing this daily. sad as it is it start with our leader .until we get back to the basics put GOD back in our lives and trust him.i can only more discord down the road
Darren says
Don’t worry the Department of Homeland Insecurity will get right on this. They are such astute observers they even managed to lose track of one million foreigners inside the country. Let us hope the muslim world never tries sneaking a couple of divisions inside the country.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/30/homeland-security-loses-track-of-1-million-foreign/?page=all
Maryann says
What does anyone expect from this White House, he is a Muslim. I don’t understand why Comgress can’t do something about him. We a are going down the tubes!
PatnCats says
“Neiggggghhhhh! Where’s the racetrack? That botox makes him look even weirder. Very very strange. Someone ought to tell him.