New counterterrorism measures to fight terrorism have been implemented as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the attack on America that was unsuccessful, and the Pentagon, which caused a plane to crash in Pennsylvania. The term "counterterrorism" describes the coordinated efforts made to combat terrorism. (acts of violence conducted in the name of religion or organization, or against an ideology). The first steps in the measures were taken by the previous president, George W. Bush, along with the secretaries of state and defense at the time, Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld. Their long-term objective is the long-term eradication of terrorism. Their objective in their mission was to apprehension or instant killing of those involved in terrorism, destroying their properties, financial resources, and dealing with states that sympathize with the terrorists groups worldwide.
With quick extremism ideology expansion worldwide, terrorism threats have been taken seriously by every state including the hegemonic like the United States of America. Due to several ways developed by the terrorist groups during their maneuver, the U.S. that is recognized de facto as the main pole in the international system produced numerous policies on counter-terrorism. The policies have been changing ever since the Bush administration declared their dedication to fight terrorism to abide to the human rights acts. During the Obama’s era, the policies were re-adjusted whereby severe policies were replaced with efficient and thorough methods ("Chairman McCaul Unveils Counterterrorism Strategy “A National Strategy to Win the War Against Islamist Terror” - House Committee on Homeland Security", 2017).
Two practices under the Terrorism Policies
Stopping radicalization and recruitment at home
Radicalization involves a process whereby people especially young individuals are introduced to a blatantly belief system and ideological message, which supports movement from normal mainstream views towards extremist beliefs (Jaffer, 2013). Many terrorist use this approach to recruit innocent young Americans to carry out their uncouth activities. However, the American government through the joint assistance of the Department of Homeland Security has established ways of combating the act. The Department of Homeland Security trains the state and local officials on how to identify terrorist threats and their suspicious activities. The DHS also creates a multi-agency Counterterrorism Advisory Board to manage programs of anti-terror across the United States government and utilize the testimony of former jihadists who are disillusioned to combat terrorist recruitment efforts.
Advantage. When possible means that terror groups use in radicalizing our young people are stopped, they will not be able to have people inside America to carry out their attacks thus rate of terrorist strikes minimal.
Disadvantage. It is expensive in the long run since new state officials are recruited to deal with such detailed Intel of finding the radicals thus a lot of government resources utilized.
Taking the fight to the enemy
Generally, the aftermaths of 9/11 created fear in the lives of Americans thus demanded that the government has to be involved in protecting them from the hostile terrorists group worldwide for their safety. Americans definitely expect their leaders to offer them sufficient security. Through this, the transitional government of Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations has managed to send troops to the Middle East to fight the terrorists. However, Washington has implemented policies, which have dubiously made us more insecure in terms of our safety.
Advantage. Taking a fight to the enemy is a good policy since their bases and sources of income will be destroyed. The army will also get a chance to deny them any access to weapons of mass destruction and even killing them helps immensely in combating the vice since they will not be able to develop and spread their strikes worldwide.
Disadvantage. With the frequent attacks on the terror groups, they tend to invent new strategies of fighting thus making their attacks on other states in many countries worldwide.
Argument
I firmly believe that putting a stop at radicalization and recruitment at home is the most effective means of dealing with terrorism in America since charity begins at home. Thus, through, combating the radicalization before the recruits become violent is a good way of dealing with terror groups. For instance, in the investigations that are still ongoing regarding the Brussel terrorist attacks, the attention is focused on Molenbeek, a neighborhood that many terrorists that carried out the Brussels attack and Paris during last November reside in. However, in the United States, the notorious analogous city is Minneapolis, which is a residential area for many Somali migrants in the state. One out of four of around two hundred and fifty U.S. citizens who undoubtedly tried joining ISIS come from the state of Minnesota. During last year, the Obama’s administration set a federal pilot project that dealt with providing funds to the youths in the region to create an alternative path for them ("Whether the practice Works Or Not, United States Anti-Radicalization Plan Can Benefit Societies," 2016). The Justice Department gave money to 6 groups, which work with Somali youths in Minnesota and other areas in will share $300,000 in grants.
However, one ineffective policy that I believe the state should do away with is taking the fight to the enemy. Yes, it is good to fight the enemy at his door; however, the states action has made us less safe. For example, before 9/11, the extremist group al-Qaeda generally symbolized a trivial although somehow actual terrorist threat to United States of America. The nation that was totally at conflict with no other state in the world and literary the actual convention threat of war was to some degree focused on other possibilities like Iran or Yemen. The possibilities of violence against countries like France and Russia were trifling. However, what is America’s premeditated setting today? The extremist group al-Qaeda have regenerated most of its force and they are likely to be stronger than they were during the 9/11. It has been reported by the Daily Beast that America’s defense officials and intelligence are disturbed by the amount of effort that the U.S. has employed on defeating ISIS, which has completely made America blind to the revival of al Qaeda, who strength has become clear. The ISIS have expanded and decentralized into many locations worldwide after they suffered critical losses in Syria and Iraq. They have also been masterminds of major terrorist attacks in more than 20 states worldwide killing a hundreds of thousands of people (Davis, 2016). And their leadership also is getting set for the fights next phase.
QUESTION 2
Illegal immigration policies
It is most critical area in the future of America among the five crime topic. Generally, it is the root of all other four crimes from encouraging passage of illegal drugs into the country to transporting terrorist across the borders. Illegal migration also dubiously has negative effects on the United States economy, which is the backbone of the state. Just like Native Americans who are skilled workers generally faced with an alternative of receiving low pay at work or not get involved at all. According to labor economists, majority of worker who are undocumented generally have reduced the U.S. wages of citizens who do not have diplomas of high school are estimated to be around 25 million to be between 0.4% -7.4percent (Davidson, 2013).
Current state of the Illegal immigration policies
The illegal immigration practices have undergone a lot of adjustments from the hands of different administrations. However, the current policies have seen massive changes for President Trump. During his campaign trail before winning, he stated that he will deport all immigrants back to their country and build a wall that will separate Mexicans from crossing into U.S.A. Nonetheless, now that he is the Commander in Chief, his attempts to implement his bold policies have not yet been achieved in his first three months. His travel ban executive order directed at some Muslim majority nations has been blocked by the courts in America, his U.S.A-Mexico border has also not achieved any success in Congress, and his target to deport illegal immigrants brought in America as children is still ongoing.
Nevertheless, I believe one of his strategies that seem to be working is fear, which he instilled in the minds of foreigners. Actually, the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. has dropped drastically since he took over the White House as the number of deportations increasing. For instance, according to federal data, the number of apprehensions carried out by the Customs and Border Patrol officers have moved from 40,000 per month towards the end of 2016 to 12,193 in 2017, March. Federal agents have also arrested around 21,362 illegal immigrants from January through mid-March who are mostly criminals as compared to 16,104 during the same period last year under Obama’s administration. Convictions of immigrants who have no criminal records also doubled to 5,441 when compared to last year (Nakamura, 2017).
Generally, the number of illegal immigrants had fallen drastically during the final years of President Barack Obama’s term as the former head of state tightened guidelines on enforcement to concentrate on hardened criminals. However, under administration of Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started ramping up the number of illegal immigrants who are being just placed in proceedings dealing with their removal (Nakamura, 2017).
From the results above, definitely if we stick to under Mr. Trumps Illegal immigration laws who probably might stay in power for almost 2 terms that’s 8 years if he gets re-elected again in 2020 or 4 years, the number of illegal immigrants will drastically reduce. This is evidently seen in the figures discussed above given as per the federal data.
Practice that should be used to solve the illegal immigration policy
Apparently, majority of illegal immigrants who come to America are economic migrants who have dreams of finding a better job and better opportunities in the country and not all of them have the urge to reside in the country permanently. Majority of them would not have brought along their families with them if they could get a chance to travel in and out to their countries without worrying of being stopped at the border. Thus, granting economic oriented migrants temporary work visas could be the solution to reducing the numbers of illegal immigrants.
Firstly, illegal immigrants who can prove that they have no criminal records and they are currently employed should be given temporary work visas immediately after paying a fine. The work visa will allow them to work in the country legally thus paying income taxes and travelling back and forth of America without any difficulties. These benefits will meet most of their demands since the work visa will last up to a time frame of three years and can be renewed provided he/she is still working. However, since, work visas are not the same as immigration visas, the visa card holder will still be considered as non-resident aliens and thus will not be able to access benefits of federal means-tested welfare ("Illegal Immigration - Immigration | Laws.com", 2017).
Secondly, if the illegal immigrant has brought along their families, they all ought to pay a fine too. Their whole family except children born in the U.S. will have to apply for temporary visitor visas, which have the same length as the work visa and can be renewed as long as the central family member is still working. The family members will also not be able to access benefits of federal means-tested welfare. However, if any family member has an interest in becoming a U.S. citizen, he or she has to apply for legal permanent resident as other legal immigrants ("Illegal Immigration - Immigration | Laws.com", 2017).
Thirdly, any illegal immigrant who has a background of criminal activities that may involve use of Social Security number that is fraudulent or false identity will have to deported as soon as possible back to their country and will not be given a chance of applying for any U.S.A visa for a period of five years.
QUESTION 3
Illustrate which side/section of the issue you support
I strongly believe that as nation, we should all focus on protecting our human and civil rights while on the path to reduce the crimes in America. Generally, human rights and civil rights have always been intertwined whereby at the heart of civil rights movement lies the basic human dignity of everyone concerning their rights to live in this world anywhere in freedom, enjoy equal opportunity, and with justice. In this age, our national borders are becoming more permeable. The worlds people interdependency is also growing rapidly thus events in other sections of the universe from economy, workers rights, politics, etc. affect us all humans.
Illegal immigration policies on Human Rights
Regarding Illegal immigration policies, I believe Trump’s travel ban to deal with the crime as violating human rights law since he is actually practicing discrimination on nationality. Mr. Trump did ban some Muslim-majority countries citizens from entering the U.S. for 90 days. The countries include Sudan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Iran, Somalia, and Libra who are all members of IOC. His actions violate the international human rights law and generally are unnecessary and waste of resources when it comes to proper counter-terrorism issues. The Presidents executive order also suspended all the United States refugee programmes for around 3 months, which actually would endanger lives of many innocent people in the camps. The U.S. is always the largest contributor in providing food and other basic amenities to individuals trapped in fleeing war zone or disaster stricken areas thus his decision directly could make some needy people die of hunger, which is inhumane. Mr. Trump’s action generally discriminated refugees based on their religion, nationality, and race thus opted for inequality and isolation as opposed to EU guidelines, which immensely supports the protection of human rights. In acting so, I believe that the presidents ban will only serve to hearten the extremists radical narratives thus will provide further encourage terrorism and violence instead of fighting them. Thus, he should offer leadership to the American people and to the whole world full for good morals without bringing unrest to the world.
Terrorism Policy on Human Rights
One of the practices under this policy is taking the war to the enemy, which involves U.S. military personnel being sent to Middle East to fight the extremist. Their fight will involve destroying their properties, financial resources, and more so killing them. Yes, they kill our soldiers and innocent citizens but they should not be killed too as a way of payback only if it comes to soldiers defending themselves from a probable attack during gun battles. However, human rights are there to protect every human no matter of his crimes from any violation whereby in this case could be death. As much as the terrorists are killed in the war, it is fair if their lives are spared after the tactical team has defeated them in the war then brought to justice under the judicial system where they can receive their penalties, which could include death penalty.
Protecting our Human and Civil Rights
Advantages
Through the protection of our human and civil rights, we will all be protected from discrimination of race, gender, nationality, religion, and many of personal backgrounds issues.
Disadvantages
Sometimes we protect our rights too much to the extent of having sympathy on some Muslim extremists who end up striking us in places we never expect.
Protecting the larger population from potential dangers
Advantages
Universal protection for everyone in the world shows our human side thus saving all lives together especially in wars thus world peace.
Disadvantages
When leaders focus on saving the world without focusing on the countries, they end up limiting the rights of its people thus leading to poor development in their countries.
Prediction of America’s direction in the next few years (rights vs. safety)
With Trump’s administration still in charge of the America until the next general election in 2020 or maybe up to 2026, if he gets re-elected, U.S. is definitely heading towards protecting the larger population from potential dangers than protecting human and civil rights of people. During his inauguration speech, the President said clearly that he has a new vision that will govern Americans during his reign in office, which is only America first, America first in all sectors in the country ("President Trump: 'America first, first, America first, first' - BBC News", 2017). This has been witnessed with his illegal immigration policy, which aims to deport all illegal immigrants thus supporting that all jobs should be done by American’s first before other foreigner gets that opportunity.
References
Jaffer, M. (2013). The Difference Between Radicalization and Terrorism. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/senator-mobina-jaffer/canadian-terrorist-acts_b_3581236.html
Davis, D. (2016). After 15 years, the US's counter-terror strategy has 'unequivocally failed.' Business Insider. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/us-counter-terror-strategy-unequivocally-failed-2016-7?IR=T
Whether It Works Or Not, U.S. Anti-Radicalization Plan Can Benefit Communities. (2016). NPR.org. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://www.npr.org/2016/04/03/472844122/whether-it-works-or-not-u-s-anti-radicalization-plan-can-benefit-communities
Nakamura, D. (2017). Amid immigration setbacks, one Trump strategy seems to be working: fear. chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/news/nationworld/ct-immigration-trump-strategy-fear-20170430-story.html?i10c.referrer=https:%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Davidson, A. (2013). Do Illegal Immigrants Actually Hurt the U.S. Economy?. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/do-illegal-immigrants-actually-hurt-the-us-economy.html
Donald Trump: 'America first, America first' - BBC News. (2017). BBC News. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-38698654/donald-trump-america-first-america-first
Illegal Immigration - Immigration | Laws.com. (2017). Immigration.laws.com. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from http://immigration.laws.com/illegal-immigration
Chairman McCaul Unveils Counterterrorism Strategy “A National Strategy to Win the War Against Islamist Terror” - House Committee on Homeland Security. (2017). House Committee on Homeland Security. Retrieved 3 May 2017, from https://homeland.house.gov/press/chairman-mccaul-unveils-counterterrorism-strategy-national-strategy-win-war-islamist-terror/
