FTO Passport Revocation Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel. Also, I want to thank the cosponsors of this legislation--as mentioned earlier, it is an equal number of Republicans and Democrats--but especially Brad Sherman and WILLIAM KEATING on the minority side.

Mr. Speaker, in 2015, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said that 180 Americans have tried to go fight in Syria, either for ISIS, Al Nusra, or some other Islamic extremist group. There may be more; we don't know.

Americans citizens fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq are real, dangerous threats to the United States. These individuals are receiving training that makes them capable of sophisticated terrorist attacks, and they put themselves under the command and control of leaders in foreign places and leaders who want to attack the United States.

This is not unique to the United States. As the chairman has mentioned earlier, the West--European countries--have this as a tremendous problem where their citizens go and fight in Syria; they are trained, and they come back and cause havoc in these countries in the West.

It is not a hypothetical threat in the U.S., either. Moner Mohammad Abusalha was the first American to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Syria. Before he did so, he returned home to Florida as a fully trained terrorist. Our government had absolutely no idea. He was also a card-carrying member of al Qaeda, aligned to the Al Nusra front. Fortunately, he did not carry out an attack on the United States, but he could have.

Last September, ISIS announced a shift in strategy. Instead of using Americans to win in Syria, it called upon Americans to attack the United States after being trained in Syria. In an audiotape, one of their leaders was heard saying: ``Rig the roads with explosives for them. Attack their bases. Raid their homes. Cut off their heads.''

He is talking about Americans killing Americans who have been radicalized by ISIS.

Earlier this year, Mr. Speaker, a 23-year-old Somali American man from Columbus was indicted on charges of supporting terrorists. He was trained in Syria and told by a cleric to go back to the United States and carry out an attack. That is the first time we have caught someone who was specifically told to go back home and attack the United States.

These traitors who have turned against America and joined the ranks of foreign radical terrorist armies should not be allowed to come back in to the United States, unless it is in handcuffs.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 237, the Foreign Terrorist Organization Passport Revocation Act, is a critical bill at a critical time. This bipartisan bill grants the Secretary of State the authority to revoke or deny U.S. passports of individuals who support designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court has ruled in Haig v. Agee that the Secretary of State has the authority to revoke a passport when the national security of the United States is threatened. We are not talking about citizenship; we are talking about revocation of a passport. This bill does not deal with the issue of citizenship.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, there is a due process available for those who wish to challenge the Secretary of State's decision. Under existing regulations, a person is entitled to a hearing within 60 days of receiving notice that that passport is being revoked.

Foreign fighters are flowing into Iraq and Syria by the thousands. Some of them are Americans. We must stop these outlaws from coming back to the United States and committing crimes against us.

And that is just the way it is.

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