Citizen Terrorists

The New York Times is covering a bill introduced by two Republican senators to strip someone of their citizenship if they've aided terrorists.  Although I support the War on Terror, I can't get behind this.

Why?  It's not because of what the bill does, but what it allows.  It's also about our attitude as a nation toward our citizens.

Do terrorists deserve to be citizens?  Of course not.  But let's take Faisal Shahzad.  He spent all the effort to naturalize, marry an American, and spent over ten years here as a law-abiding citizen before turning to terror.  Does he deserve punishment for his crime of terrorism?  Of course.  That man doesn't deserve to see another blue sky unless it's in the prison exercise yard.  But if we strip him of his citizenship, what does that mean?

First, it means he doesn't enjoy the same Constitutional protections.  The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 14th Amendments provide stronger protections to citizens than non-citizens.  But my question is, why do we have to strip him of his rights?  Is it so we can torture him?  Is it so we can deport him to some shady country so they can torture him?  Is it so we can search his house without a warrant?  Why do we need that?  No, seriously, why do we need that?  I've worked in law enforcement and I can tell you, the existing set of tools is pretty darn robust.  Especially against someone like this, when there's such a mountain of evidence against him, and he's already confessed.  We've already got plenty to lock him up and throw away the key.  More importantly, it looks like we've already made huge headway in our counter-terrorism investigation, thanks to this guy.  What do we actually accomplish by sending him to Guantanamo?

In addition, what is our standard for stripping someone of citizenship?  What about murderers?  What about rapists?  Why do they deserve to keep their citizenships, if Shahzad doesn't?  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already said that "citizenship is a right, not a privilege."  Really?  I'm pretty sure it's a right, and it comes with a suite of other rights attached.  No matter what crimes you've committed, you're still a citizen of the United States of America.  We may punish you, we may strip you of all your worldly possessions, but you are still a citizen.  We live in a country of ideals, and one of our ideals is that citizenship is something sacred.  The government shouldn't be able to take that away.

J<