Are immigrants more likely to become terrorists?

Are foreigners more likely to become terrorists?

If we look at the statistics we would find that being killed by foreign terrorists is actually quite rare. Official statistics show you are more likely to die falling out of bed then to be killed by a terrorist. You are more likely to choke than to be killed by a foreign terrorist.

First, can we agree on the definition of terrorism?

• Terrorism is not a religion.
• Terrorism is not a race.
• Terrorism is not organized crime.
• Terrorism is about politics not profit.
• Terrorism is not "mental illness" even if the attacks by lone wolfs are usually conducted by mentally ill individuals.

What is ISIS?

• Most Muslims are not terrorists.
• Islam itself is not the cause of terrorism.

What does ISIS want?

Whether or not Islam is a religion of peace is up for debate

• Most individual Muslims are peaceful.
• Even if Islam has peaceful times, there are going to be times when it's not peaceful, as in my opinion war and peace are cycles not based on the religion but on political agendas.
• A better question is whether or not "political Islam" is peaceful.

Why do we assume foreigners are more likely to become terrorists?

Do we assume foreigners are more likely to become terrorists because in our perception of them we believe they have less to lose? If a person does not own a home, is not part of the establishment, is not integrated into the community and or society, then is it safe to assume that this person is also less likely to be influenced by the community, less likely to avoid certain risks due to having less to lose?

I would say this assumption is only an assumption until it passes the tests of statistical evidence in support of it. We simply have statistics to go by and based on the statistics there isn't any evidence that foreigners are more likely to become terrorists or even that the majority of terrorist attacks at least in the United States are committed by foreigners. Refugees from Syria for example have not committed any terrorist attacks this year. In fact, the list of countries which have restricted access to the United States have not produced any terrorist attacks.

Going by statistics alone the risk of foreign terrorist attack is very low and the fear of refugees does not seem to be based on the statistics. This could mean that policies are being set by hysteria rather than by actual level of risk in society. Setting policies based on fear and hysteria only leads to more fear and hysteria and this can lead to anger. This anger can lead to anti-Islamic terrorism. The majority of terrorists who have attacked America are not Islamic. The percentage of terrorist attacks committed by Muslims in the United States should in my opinion be reflected in the anti-terrorism resources directed in the United States, but these are not my decisions to make.

For those five years, the researchers found, Muslims carried out only 11 out of the 89 attacks, yet those attacks received 44 percent of the media coverage. (Meanwhile, 18 attacks actually targeted Muslims in America. The Boston marathon bombing generated 474 news reports, amounting to 20 percent of the media terrorism coverage during the period analyzed. Overall, the authors report, "The average attack with a Muslim perpetrator is covered in 90.8 articles. Attacks with a Muslim, foreign-born perpetrator are covered in 192.8 articles on average. Compare this with other attacks, which received an average of 18.1 articles."

References

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1. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/you-re-more-likely-die-choking-be-killed-foreign-terrorists-n715141
2. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/27/should-blame-islam-terrorism
3. http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/29/us/refugee-terrorism-trnd/index.html
4. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/terrorism-right-wing-america-muslims-islam-white-supremacists-study-a7805831.html
5. https://www.quora.com/Is-Islam-really-the-main-cause-of-terrorism
6. http://reason.com/archives/2017/03/24/do-muslims-commit-most-us-terrorist-atta