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Ari Kirsch's avatar

I think it’s a deterrent bill with little teeth.. how do you prove someone “knew about a terrorist act and did nothing”? And yes, deportation to a war zone makes no sense.. hopefully the bill deters and does little else.. it does seem to be a boon for immigration lawyers whose billable hours may skyrocket.. but, I must admit.. emotionally it sounds terrific… help a terrorist, destroy your life..

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Clifford Sobin's avatar

Of interest would be what is the Burden of Proof required for justification for deportation. In the United States there are two standards for most evidentiary issues - the criminal standard is beyond a reasonable doubt. The civil standard is a much lower burden - more likely than not (51%-49%). This is very important because what does "should have known" mean in justification 1, or expressions of support in justification 2? While there are plenty of blatant examples, there are plenty that are not. This is why the evidentiary standard is important. More likely than not would strike me as way too low for deportation.

Also not clear is what happens if a parent knew but a child did not? Can the parent be deported but the practical effect is that the child is too? And where would they go, at whose expense, and what would happen to their assets? - Egypt refused to take Gazans in distress from the war, I doubt they would take deported Israeli citizens. And, I wonder, what would happen to their debts. Would debts be absolved or attempted to be collected from people kicked out? Perhaps the answers to these questions and the like are in the minutia of the law - but altogether what might seem good in theory (interesting comment above that Sweden has a law of this type), I am guessing would present a host of issues in practice for all but the worst examples. All made much worse if the standard of evidence is more likely than not rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. Especially, because the law is applying to citizens rather than residents.

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