Immigration: Terrorist Grounds for Exclusion and Removal of Aliens

The Immigration and Nationality Act INA spells out a strict set of admissions criteria and exclusion rules for all foreign nationals who come permanently to the United States as immigrants i.e., legal permanent residents or temporarily as nonimmigrants. Notably, any alien who engages in terrorist activity, or is a representative or member of a designated foreign terrorist organization, is generally inadmissible. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the INA was broadened to deny entry to representatives of groups that endorse terrorism, prominent individuals who endorse terrorism, and in certain circumstances spouses and children of aliens who are removable on terrorism grounds. The INA also contains grounds for inadmissibility based on foreign policy concerns.