Thread: Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan wants to revoke Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar

Former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan wants to revoke Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's U.S. citizenship


By Shira Schoenberg, Political Correspondent

on April 21, 2013 at 5:06 PM, updated April 21, 2013 at 6:02 PM

Former Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said Sunday that he wants the U.S. Attorney’s office to begin the process of revoking Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s U.S. citizenship.
Tsarnaev, originally from Chechnya, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who took the oath to become a citizen on Sept. 11, 2012.

Sullivan, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, said the government should initiate court proceedings to revoke his citizenship on the grounds that “the naturalization was procured either by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.” (Those are the criteria laid out by federal law for revoking citizenship.)

“After making false statements under oath and committing these acts of terror against our nation and its citizens, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has renounced any alleged loyalty to our country and has forfeited the gift of U.S. citizenship our great nation has bestowed upon him,” Sullivan said in a statement. “It should be revoked as quickly as the law allows."

Sullivan, in an interview with MassLive.com, said citizenship is “one of the greatest gifts our country could bestow on someone who’s foreign born.” Sullivan said Tsarnaev’s alleged acts shortly after becoming a citizen lead one to question whether Tsarnaev “had any loyalty at all at the time he petitioned for citizenship.”

“You have to ask the question, he swore his allegiance at that moment in time, was he being truthful and honest in terms of that allegiance?” Sullivan said.

Historically, revoking citizenship has mostly been done in cases involving Nazis and other World War II criminals who lied on immigration applications to conceal their identities.

Joshua Goldstein, a Boston immigration attorney, said for the government to revoke someone’s citizenship is “really hard to do and really unusual,” though this is an unusual case. Goldstein said one way to revoke citizenship, which could potentially be looked at, is to prove that a person was affiliated with a terrorist organization within five years of becoming a citizen.

Revoking citizenship would require a court proceeding, at which Tsarnaev would be allowed to defend himself.

Goldstein said that he is not familiar with any previous denaturalization cases in Massachusetts.

Goldstein said he does not see citizenship as a major issue in this case. No one is talking about deporting Tsarnaev, which is one major difference for a citizen and a non-citizen. “Because there are so many different legal issues, it seems like removing his citizenship would be the last concern the U.S. would have,” Goldstein said. “I guess it’s a symbol. I’d rather see my tax dollars used to gain intelligence or something else.”

Robert Mautino, an immigration attorney in San Diego, said that he too does not think it is likely that the government could revoke Tsarnaev’s citizenship. “The general rule is if you get naturalized Monday and start your life of crime on Tuesday, they can’t take away your citizenship,” he said.

Mautino said case law has changed over the years, making it harder to revoke citizenship. “There used to be many things you could do to lose citizenship. The Supreme Court shut them all down,” he said. “About the only way to lose your citizenship is to give it up.”

Practically, Sullivan said revoking Tsarnaev’s citizenship would probably not impact the legal proceedings against him. However, it could have an effect if the government were to classify Tsarnaev as an “enemy combatant.”

An enemy combatant means someone fighting for a nation against which the U.S. is at war, or, since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, anyone fighting on behalf of al-Qaeda, the Taliban or related forces. Enemy combatants have fewer rights than regular criminals. Americans classified as enemy combatants have certain rights to trial and to challenge their detention, which non-citizens do not have.

Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina have called on the government to classify Tsarnaev as an enemy combatant, though Reuters reported that Tsarnaev currently does not appear to meet the definition of an enemy combatant.

Sullivan said that he does not know whether Tsarnaev should be tried as an enemy combatant. “If the government believes he has information that would advance our national security, they have to make that judgment whether or not information is more easily obtained if he is held as an enemy combatant as opposed to being criminally charged. I don’t have that information,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that the purpose of revoking Tsarnaev’s citizenship would not be because of the enemy combatant designation. “It is recognizing that the naturalization of citizenship is a tremendous privilege, and millions of people have gone through that process proudly and sworn their oath of allegiance for the U.S. Out of respect for those people, as a nation we should question whether or not the privilege should be revoked,” he said.

http://www.masslive.com/politics/ind...ael_sul_3.html

18 USC § 2381 - Treason


USCPrelim is a preliminary release and may be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version.
Current through Pub. L. 112-283. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.


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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381