An in internal intelligence study by the Dept. of Homeland Security, along with related agencies, has reached a fairly self-evident conclusion:
1. We are not being invaded by people seeking our destruction.
2. Where radicalization occurs, it's years or a generation after immigrants / refugees come to this nation. That's not something you can vet for, even with "extreme vetting."
In other words, as we have seen with all those internal terror attacks since 9/11 (those committed by Muslims, at least), they aren't from Evil Terrorists Sneaking Their Way Past Lax Security. They're coming from folks years later, sometimes the children of immigrants, who for whatever reason become radicalized — through societal rejection, through hanging out with the wrong crowd, by teen angst and ennui, whatever.[1]
You can't detect something that hasn't happened yet. Or that (much, much, much more likely) never will.
That would seem to kick the legs out from under any justification for "extreme vetting" and travel bans to try to keep out terrorists. We're not dependent on imports; we build our own, thank you.
Of course, faced with this, the Trump Administration will most likely:
A. Ignore it, deny it, downplay it, and continue on their merry way however they want to go.
B. Accept it and use it as an excuse to ban any refugees or any immigrant from the "danger countries." _"We can't let any of them in here — they're all undetectable ticking time bombs!"
——
[1] The same is seen in Europe, where ghettoization and social/economic isolation of immigrant populations among the European locals tends to be more intense than in the US.
Opinion | In leaked document, the case for Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ takes another huge hit
Time to kill it, Donald.
"We're not dependent on imports; we build our own, thank you."
Best line ever, and true on numerous levels.
+Michael Verona Thank you. It made me smile (well, grimace) when I wrote it.