U.S. Gives Yemeni (Al Qaeda Hotbed) Nationals “Temporary” Amnesty

Just when it seemed like President Obama’s immigration policies couldn’t possibly get worse, the administration is offering “temporary” amnesty to nationals of an Islamic Middle Eastern country well known as an Al Qaeda breeding ground.

You can’t make this stuff up! The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is offering Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to illegal aliens from Yemen, headquarters of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). In its latest Country Reports on Terrorism, the State Department reveals that AQAP militants carried out hundreds of attacks including suicide bombers, vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), ambushes, kidnappings and targeted assassinations. The media has also documented this for years with one in-depth report confirming that “Yemen has emerged as the breeding grounds for some of the most high-profile plans to attack the U.S. homeland.”

Why would the U.S. extend to a humanitarian measure designed to temporarily shield illegal immigrants from deportation during emergencies to citizens of this notorious terrorist hub? A stunned Homeland Security official told Judicial Watch that this creates “obvious dangers” because the U.S. government has a “total inability to screen, ID or verify the records” of Yemeni nationals. Remember that the convicted terrorist who planned to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit on Christmas in 2009 trained in Yemen and the plot was organized by Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen. Also of interest is the fact that at least a dozen terrorists freed from the U.S. military compound in Guantanamo have joined Al Qaeda in Yemen. Last year a study published by the RAND Corporation concluded that the most significant threat to the United States comes from terrorist groups operating in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

None of this seems to matter to the officials running DHS, the monstrous agency created after 9/11 to prevent another terrorist attack. Obama’s DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson, cites the “ongoing armed conflict” in Yemen for deciding to grant the country TPS. “Yemen is experiencing widespread conflict and a resulting severe humanitarian emergency, and requiring Yemeni nationals in the United States to return to Yemen would pose a serious threat to their personal safety,” states the DHS announcement made public this month. It assures that individuals with certain criminal records or who pose a threat to national security are not eligible for TPS, though JW’s government source maintains there’s no reliable way to check this. The TPS supposedly expires in 18 months, but we’ve all seen that these temporary amnesty measures get extended indefinitely.

Just a few weeks ago Judicial Watch reported that the Obama administration extended TPS for Haitians for the fifth time since an earthquake hit the Caribbean island in 2010. When Obama’s first DHS Secretary, Janet Napolitano, granted the first Haitian TPS, she stated that it was intended to provide a “temporary refuge for Haitian nationals who are currently in the United States and whose personal safety would be endangered by returning to Haiti is part of this Administration’s continuing efforts to support Haiti’s recovery.” Five years later DHS stated that “following consultations with other federal agencies” it had determined that “current conditions in Haiti support extending the designation period for current TPS beneficiaries.”

Haitian illegal immigrants aren’t the only ones who have enjoyed the long-term benefits of the special measure intended to grant only temporary reprieve. Last year the Obama administration extended TPS for tens of thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans. The order was originally issued more than a decade and a half ago after a hurricane (Mitch) hit the Central American countries and has been renewed over and over again, illustrating that there’s nothing temporary about these measures. Less than a year ago the Obama administration created an 18-month TPS for African Ebola nations, including Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.