Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Green Cards for the GITMO Gang?

National Review's The Corner has a post today from Andy McCarthy concerning the Obama administration's announced intention to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by January 2010, and to admit to the United Sates any jihadists made homeless by the closure (Detainees Cleared for Landing ... and You Get to Pay for It!). He asks a question that's been puzzling me, too.

The administration claims it is committed to restoring the "rule of law" that the Bush administration purportedly flouted. The law of the United States provides that aliens are excludable from the United States if they have been affiliated with terrorist organizations or have received terrorist training. How is admitting trained alien terrorists into the United States consistent with the rule of law?


Exactly what legal status will these ex-detainees have if they are admitted? Can they qualify for Lawful Permanent Residence? If not, then what?

3 comments:

Consul-At-Arms said...

I've quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms2.blogspot.com/2009/05/re-green-cards-for-gitmo-gang.html

The Hegemonist said...

It's been a while since I've done consular work, but doesn't CBP have the ability to parole people in (generally it's used for trials or witnesses who are otherwise ineligble) that technically means they have no right to the legal immigration court system? Of course, they'd still need a detention area and this clearly wouldn't be a sustainable long-term solution. It is an interesting question.

TSB said...

Hegemonist,

Good thinking. They could probably be admitted on some kind of immigration parole.