Countries Under U.S. Entry Ban Aren't Main Sources of Terror Attacks

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s executive order to temporarily ban entry from seven Middle Eastern and African countries states that it is intended to “protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States.”

However, few of the dozens of plots in the U.S. during and after 2001 were attempted or carried out by suspects who came from the countries targeted under the ban. Of 180 people charged with jihadist terrorism-related crimes or who died before being charged, 11 were identified as being from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan or Somalia, the countries specified in Mr. Trump’s order, according to an analysis of data on the attacks by The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal analyzed U.S. law enforcement records on terror-related plots and arrests that were compiled by the nonpartisan New America Foundation. The data include those charged with conducting attacks, killed while executing attacks, taking steps toward violence in the U.S., or materially supporting terrorism. It doesn’t include people charged with attempting to travel abroad for jihadist purposes, with no direct correlation to a U.S. attack.

The New America Foundation data also didn’t include the 19 Sept. 11 attackers. They were added as part of the Journal’s analysis of the data.

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The countries list originates from a bill Mr. Obama signed in 2015 that was originally introduced by Republican lawmakers, with some Democrats supporting it. The legislation grew out of ​concerns about citizens from a variety of countries becoming fighters for Islamic State or other groups in Iraq and Syria, then potentially visiting the U.S. The House version of the bill had 93 co-sponsors, about a third of whom were Democrats.

A federal program allows people from the U.K., France and about three dozen other nations to travel to the U.S. for business or vacation without a visa.

The 2015​ law​ curtailed the program. That required anyone from the list of approved countries who has traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria to obtain a U.S. visa before entering the country. In 2016, the Department of Homeland Security added Libya, Somalia and Yemen to the list.

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http://www.wsj.com/articles/countries-under-u-s-entry-ban-arent-main-sources-of-terror-attacks-1485708300