President Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly peddled the lie that, according to government data, foreigners who come to the United States are more likely to be convicted of terrorism and “terrorism-related” offenses than native-born Americans.
A new statement from the Justice Department to Lawfare makes the lie more clear than ever.
“[N]o responsive records were located,” the Justice Department said in an otherwise unremarkable statement to Lawfare editor Benhamin Wittes last week. The statement spelled the resolution of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that Lawfare had filed in an effort to find data — any data — the administration was using to support the false claim.
Specifically, Lawfare and the DOJ had agreed that:
The offices of the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, legislative affairs, and public affairs would each conduct a search “for records containing data of (i) all individuals convicted of all terrorism-related offenses (domestic and international) between 2001 and the date of the initial search, or (ii) all individuals convicted of all domestic terrorism-related offenses between 2001 and the date of the initial search.”
When the DOJ found “no responsive records,” the implication was clear: Trump lied, many times.
Let’s take a step back: It all started with a lie Trump told both chambers of Congress during his address to lawmakers in February 2017, just days after taking office.
“According to data provided by the Department of Justice,” he said, “the vast majority of individuals convicted for terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country.”
Immediately, reporters took note.
TPM reported that “terrorism-related” could mean nearly anything, including offenses like passport forgery, or, in an illustrative example used by the Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh, stealing cereal.
In addition, asked to provide the justification for Trump’s claim, Justice Department spokesperson Peter Carr (who has since become special counsel Robert Mueller’s spokesperson) and assistant White House press secretary Kelly Love (who has since resigned) provided TPM with the same statement, asserting that the Justice Department “maintains information about public international terrorism and terrorism-related convictions” since 9/11.
The statement made no reference to domestic terrorism.
