TYPES OF TERRORISM

Types of Terrorism

Types of Terrorism

Introduction

The Bush Administration proposal to transfer the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from the Department of Justice to a proposed “Department of Homeland Security” neatly captures a disturbing trend toward “securitizing international migration.” The restructuring suggests that the movement of persons across U.S. borders is primarily a source of danger. Screening foreign entrants for their likelihood to engage in terrorism is vital and legitimate. Measures must also be taken against terrorists who have entered. The movements and communications of international terrorists must be monitored by police agencies working collaboratively and globally. However, immigration control should occupy a secondary role in law enforcement efforts to counteract terrorism, with priority placed on multilateral and national criminal investigation and prosecution. Deporting international terrorists is a remarkably short sighted and self-defeating policy.

Discussion

Excluding, monitoring, detaining, and deporting persons on the basis of criteria that emphasize nationality and religion over personal guilt wastes scarce enforcement resources, inflicts unjustified harm on individuals and families, and betrays basic principles. The “war” against terrorism is an international crime control operation and a “hearts and minds” struggle. Counterterrorism migration policies must be crafted with this reality in mind, and short-term domestic political gain should not drive policy at the cost of long-term domestic and international security.

Commentators have portrayed the September 11 hijackers and their collaborators as enemies of “globalization,” pointing to the selection of the World Trade Center as their primary target. Politicians assert that Al Qaeda attacked the United States out of hatred for freedom. These characterizations miss an important point?Al Qaeda is strikingly multinational in composition and globalized in operation. International migration is an aspect of Al Qaeda's murderous strategy. However, much risks being lost if anti-terrorism strategies are devised without adequate sensitivity to their potential costs to migrants and their families, the ...