Sen. Rob Portman called the Obama administration’s policy of monitoring Americans who have fought with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria if they return to United States “reckless.”
“The administration should reconsider its reckless plan to ‘track’ American [Islamic State] fighters who return home and instead plan to detain or arrest and prosecute them,” the Ohio Republican, who is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Tuesday.
Portman’s comments came in response to an interview FBI Director James Comey gave CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which aired Sunday. Comey said the dozen or so Americans who have joined the fight with the Islamic State in Syria are “entitled” to return to the U.S. unless their passports are revoked.
Comey added that if such fighters return, the administration’s plan is to “track them very carefully.”
Portman said Comey’s comment is “yet another example of how the Obama administration plays from behind when addressing threats to the country’s national security.”
The senator said Secretary of State John Kerry instead should use his existing legal authority to immediately revoke passports of U.S. citizens who fight with the Islamic State.
Portman said the administration has ample authority to arrest and prosecute American Islamic State fighters for several crimes, including treason and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
“There is no legal reason why Americans who have taken up arms against America should be permitted to re-enter the country,” he said.
