‘73% terrorists in US were foreign born’

WASHINGTON: Three-fourths of convicted terrorists in the US since September 11, 2001 were foreign-born, the Trump administration has said in a new report released on Tuesday.

The report, which was released by the department of justice and the department of homeland security, was clearly intended to add to its growing body of arguments in favour of ending chain migration and the diversity visa programme. It stated that in the period ending December 2016, 549 individuals were convicted in cases related to international terrorism. Of that number, 402 of them —73% — were foreign-born, including 254 who were not even US citizens.

But neither the report nor an official who briefed reporters on background were able to answer how many foreign-born convicted terrorists came to the US through the chain-migration or the diversity visa programmes.

The report, which will be renewed every 180 days, did not spell out immigration details of every one of the 549 convicted individuals, but the official said most of them came from Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq and Syria.

He denied the report was making a religion-specific point.