Islamism Is An Ideology Which Transcends Borders

When Islamic terrorism strikes there is certain preoccupation in conservative circles to focus on immigration. It's not entirely without justification, but misses the bigger picture. Here is part of David French's commentary in NRO following last night's attack in Manchester:


After the end of the Bush administration, the numbers skyrocketed, with 68 plots or attacks recorded since. A number of them, including the Fort Hood shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, the San Bernardino mass murder, and the Orlando nightclub massacre, have been terrifying successful. Indeed, there have been more domestic terror plots and attacks since the rise of ISIS in the summer of 2014 than there were in the entirety of the Bush administration after 9/11. And make no mistake, jihadist terrorists are disproportionately immigrants and children of immigrants.


Except that those children of immigrants were born and raised in the United States. They are American citizens. This is the case in three of the four attacks he cites. In the case of the Boston Marathon bombing, the younger Tsarnaev brother came to the U.S. when he was 8-years old and grew up immersed in the American way of life. Of course, the Manchester bomber was born and raised in the UK.


My point here is the Trump Administration can close its borders to all Muslim immigration and it wouldn't stop a single terrorist attack. What is to prevent an American born person from converting to Islam and killing in its name? Ask the family of military recruiter Private William Long or Vaughan Foods employee Colleen Hufford. Indeed, the same question could be put to the families of those died in March's Westminster attack as the perpetrator was also a Muslim convert.


Islamism is an ideology which transcends borders. All an aspiring jihadi needs is an internet connection. If American and the West want to defeat Islamist terrorism then the Islamist ideology must be defeated first. While some restrictions on immigration and refugee claims are necessary shutting down borders won't shut down the Islamist ideology.