Schmitt Defends 10-Year Denaturalization Bill as Hirono Warns of Second-Class Citizenship
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jun 5
Schmitt Defends 10-Year Denaturalization Bill as Hirono Warns of Second-Class Citizenship
2 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 5
Summary
Sen. Eric Schmitt clashed with Sen. Mazie Hirono at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing after she said the SCAM Act would treat naturalized Americans as second-class citizens and accused the Trump administration of terrorizing immigrant communities.
Schmitt said the bill would strip citizenship from naturalized immigrants convicted within 10 years of terrorism, murder or large-scale welfare fraud, arguing those offenders should be deported after conviction.
Hirono, the committee's only naturalized citizen, said the measure goes beyond extreme cases and could reach welfare-fraud prosecutions, imposing tougher standards on naturalized citizens than on people born in the United States.
Schmitt pointed to Mirsad Ramic, who later joined Islamic State after his 2009 naturalization ceremony, and to Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized citizen previously convicted of aiding ISIS, to argue denaturalization powers are needed.