The Obama administration has yet to provide the immigration histories of 72 individuals charged or convicted with terrorism in the last year requested by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) months ago.
In August Sessions, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, and Cruz, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, requested Attorney General Loretta Lynch, DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson, and Secretary of State John Kerry fill out a chart detailing the immigration histories of the 72 charged or convicted terrorists.
“We would like to understand more about these individuals, and others similarly situated in recent history, and the nexus between terrorism and our immigration system,” they wrote in a letter to the trio.
At least 26 of the 72 individuals on the chart, were identified by the senators as foreign-born from places like Bangladesh, Somalia (5), Yemen, Bosnia (6), Uzbekistan (4), Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Iraq, Sudan (2), Ghana, and Kuwait.
Last week, the senators slammed the Obama administration for failing to provide the terrorists’ immigration pasts.
“It is quite telling that this Administration – which seems to have unlimited resources to circumvent our immigration laws and further its executive amnesties – cannot find the time or resources to provide timely answers to these simple questions,” Sessions and Cruz — a GOP presidential candidate — said in a joint statement.
As of Monday, according to a committee aide, the senators have yet to receive a completed chart.
Thursday, Sessions reiterated his frustrations with the Obama administration’s silence.
“Shouldn’t we know these terrorists that are conducting threats and have been arrested and charged and convicted, shouldn’t we know how they got into the country as we evaluate how to improve our immigration situation?” Sessions asked in a speech on the Senate floor.
“Well, stunningly, the administration just refused to respond,” he added “They didn’t respond because they don’t want the public to know that if they can ignore these requests, then maybe people won’t know and begin begin to question how things are being conducted.”
See the full chart.