Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., says it would be impractical to attempt to deport individuals on the terror watch lists whom she thinks should be barred from purchasing weapons.
“I think you’d have a big hassle, particularly if they come under [the] visa waiver [program], how do you just pick them up and deport them?” Feinstein told the Washington Examiner. “There’s no law that says you can.”
Foreign nationals are part of the discussion about how to respond to the Orlando terrorist attack, which was carried about by a U.S. citizen born to Afghan parents. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has proposed a ban on weapons sales to individuals on the no-fly list and the selectee list, which provides extra scrutiny for certain air travelers, but Senate Democrats worry that it doesn’t include a ban on weapon sales for foreign nationals.
Collins’ ban would represent a compromise relative to the ban that Feinstein proposed last week, which would cover about 900,000 people. “Our list is 99.9 percent foreign nationals, and these are foreign nationals submitted by law enforcement and intelligence entities,” Feinstein told reporters. “It is a classified list, but it is people from abroad who could come into this country and because of our lax gun laws be able to buy a gun.”
Republican immigration hawks have been trying to shift the debate to the national security threat posed by immigrants. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have asked the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly to detail the immigration histories of 113 suspects, but they haven’t received the information. “This refusal represents the deliberate hiding of data,” according to Sessions.
“While the vast majority of Muslims are law-abiding and peaceful, we must face the uncomfortable reality that not only are immigrants from Muslim-majority countries coming to the United States, radicalizing, and attempting to engage in acts of terrorism, such as in Boston and Chattanooga; but also, their first-generation American children are susceptible to the toxic radicalization of terrorist organizations,” the Alabama senator said following the Orlando attack.
