Sens. Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions said Monday the number of people implicated in radical Islamic terrorist plots in the U.S. has jumped to 113, and they said it’s yet another reason to impose tighter immigration controls. The senators have been trying to pry loose from the administration the immigration histories of those individuals, saying the public has a right to know how each of them entered the U.S. and what level of scrutiny they got. The two also added 41 new names to their list Monday, including the two Iraqi refugees who were arrested last week on terrorism-related charges.
“We have now identified an additional 41 individuals, bringing the total to 113 individuals who have been implicated in Islamic terrorism in some manner since early 2014. Of these 113 individuals, at least 14 were initially admitted to the United States as refugees,” the two senators said. Mr. Sessions, chairman of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, and Mr. Cruz, one of the GOP’s leading presidential hopefuls, have been prodding the Homeland Security, State and Justice departments for information for months. They say the information is critical in light of President Obama’s plan to bring 10,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S. this year. FULL REPORT
