Don’t Weaponize Anti-Terrorism Laws

Sipa USA/Samuel Corum via AP

The government is determined to stamp out unpopular speech, including journalism, by falsely labeling it as support for terrorism.

The government is using claims of terrorism as an excuse to punish constitutionally protected speech.

Congress recently proposed stripping the nonprofit status of so-called “terrorist-supporting” organizations and revoking or withholding the passports of any American that the secretary of state unilaterally determines has provided “material support” to a terrorist organization. These bills give the government wide latitude to categorize protected speech as “terrorism-supporting,” and offer little or no ability to challenge those decisions. Recently, for example, officials have accused news outlets of supporting terrorism by simply reporting about terrorist attacks and organizations.

Write a letter to stop an unconstitutional passport bill

Help us tell Congress that it shouldn’t allow Marco Rubio and the next secretary of state to revoke the passports of any American they claim supports terrorism.

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Edit this message so that it is unique to you: Dear Member of Congress, I am writing to ask that your office REJECT and speak out against Section 226 in H.R. 5300. Section 226 would empower the secretary of state to revoke or refuse to issue passports for people who have been convicted of, or merely charged with, material support for terrorism, as well as any person who the secretary determines, in his sole discretion, “has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.” This bill could be abused to go after activists, journalists, and anyone who speaks in favor of issues that are unpopular with the current government. Either a Democratic or Republican secretary of state could use Section 226 to justify the withholding or revocation of the passport from Americans who advocate for issues supported by the right or the left, respectively, by labeling them a supporter of a terrorist organization. For instance, Section 226 could be used against Americans who write or speak about the rights of Palestinians, or those who support the rights of Israeli settlers, depending on the views of the secretary of state. Similarly, it could be used against Americans who support the rights of transgender people or those who are anti-abortion activists. Neither are hypothetical concerns. The current secretary of state has characterized Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk’s op-ed opposing the Israel-Gaza war as support of Hamas. Meanwhile, the prior administration reportedly sought to label opponents of vaccine mandates as “domestic violent extremists.” Section 226 provides a very limited right to appeal an adverse determination to the secretary of state, who has already made the initial decision. This lack of due process makes Section 226 even more dangerous. Existing law already provides ample tools to combat material support of terrorism. PLEASE REJECT Section 226 and urge your colleagues to remove it from H.R. 5300.

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Thank you for helping us tell Congress not to allow the secretary of state to withhold or revoke the passports of Americans based on their speech.

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Join me in telling Congress that Americans should be able to speak freely without fear that their passports will be withheld or revoked. https://freedom.press/issues/dont-weaponize-anti-terrorism-laws/