The USA, as a country, has characteristically complex problems that are not observable in any nation globally. It is a multicultural country, which has to deal with problems of various magnitudes. As a result, the nation has the inclusion of The Patriotic Act 2001 , which was created and passed by Congress after the September 11, 2001, heinous attack. It is a broad act since it first provides the ground upon which domestic terrorism is defined. At the same time, it offers the secretary of Treasury mandates to enforce and convict individuals for money laundering claims that are aimed at aiding terror in the country. However, the act may be claimed to offer a recipe to racial profiling, especially when it comes to revoking the citizenship of foreigners involved in a terror attack. Given the complexity of the country, the Patriotic Act 2001 offers a ground for protection from domestic terrorists and conviction of people who are promoting harm in the country without racial profiling as analyzed in this paper.
Purpose of the Act
The Patriotic Act 2001 gives federal officials mandate in tracking the ability to intercept any form of communication for the role of enforcement of law and gathering of foreign intelligence. Also, it renders some powers to the Treasury secretary to combat money laundering instances among the corrupt officials. At the same time, it has powers to close US borders from invaders and at the same detaining those within the country. In the same reasoning, the Treasury Department has powers to establish new crimes, penalties, and procedures that can be used to curtail both international and domestic terrorists. In brief, more powers are given to law enforcement agencies to bring justice. Also, it increased the magnitude of penalties for those aiding and committing terrorism in the US.
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Revoking Citizenship
In specific circumstances, it is important to revoke the citizenship of certain individuals of the US, especially those who were not naturally born in the country. For example, if the federal government can prove that an individual gained entry into the country with the use of fake documentation, and aided an attack, then it would mean that person is a threat to the nation. Consequently, if possible, such a person should be deported without a second thought. However, the need to revoke a person’s citizenship based on ‘material support’ does not make sense, especially when there is a conviction based on the intention to assist terrorism as stipulated under statutes. In brief, it is even impossible to prove that an attack was being planned, yet it has not occurred. In the same token, it is not imperative to hold a person liable for a crime which has not happened. It is not even easy to prove that a person was planning to aid terror when the claim itself has not happened. Based on suspicion, ‘material support’ claim is not logical.
Defining Domestic Terrorism
From the Patriotic Act 2001 , domestic terrorism is defined as dangerous actions that violate the law of the country, and appear to intimidate the policy of the government and the possibility of mass destruction, assassination, and kidnapping. Lastly, it states the guidelines for evaluating crimes and acts of terrorism, which occurs squarely in the US. I agree with the definition as long as it seeks to find out the laws of terror within the country and convictions are explicitly targeted to those people living in the country. Any action that may bring a problem to the citizens in the country and that which is instigated by a person with rights to live in the country is considered a domestic crime. The entire clause of the act stipulates signs of crimes that one can be convicted of in the country based on the consideration that the instigator is of US origin.
Thoughts on Racial Profiling
I do not believe that the Patriotic Act 2001 in a way promotes racial profiling. By definition, racial profiling is an act of targeting certain people of a particular race on suspicion of committing terror due to their ethnicity. The Patriotic Act 2001 only provides a ground upon which a person can be stripped of citizenship after fraudulent activities are proved right of such individuals ( LeBrón et al., 2018) . Racial profiling exists, but the act does not offer the ground for convicting people of crimes based on ethnicity. In my view, the USA is facing a complex situation where it has to deal with cases of terror while at the same time keeping at bay claims of racial profiling.
On the whole, the Patriotic Act, 2001 was a drastic measure put in place after the 2001 terror attack on innocent citizens. It was put in place to solve menace arising from domestic terrorists in the USA who may have obtained citizenship unlawfully, and at the same time instigating criminal acts on the innocent people. The statute does not promote racial profiling. Also, domestic terrorism is well defined in the law as it provides all jurisdictions upon which a person can be convicted for violating a given section of the law.
References
LeBrón, A. M., Lopez, W. D., Cowan, K., Novak, N. L., Temrowski, O., Ibarra-Frayre, M., & Delva, J. (2018). Restrictive ID policies: implications for health equity. Journal of immigrant and minority health , 20 (2), 255-260.
The Patriotic Act 2001 (USA).
