Sen. John Cornyn: Deport Yale Taliban

Sen. John Cornyn is calling for an investigation into how the Taliban’s former spokesman, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, managed to gain entry into the U.S. and be admitted to Yale University — saying instead that he ought to be deported.

“This is someone who has apparently provided material support for a terrorist organization,” the Texas Republican complained on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning.

“He is a member or representative of a terrorist organization and he has endorsed terrorist activity and tried to persuade others to do so,” Cornyn said. “Those are grounds for deportation under the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act passed by Congress last year.”

The Texas Republican, who chairs the Senate Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, said that somehow Hashemi obtained a visa — and he wants to know how that happened.

Cornyn said he’d also “like to hear from some of the authorities at Yale who have been silent on this as well. It strikes me that this is not something that ought to be pursued in the interest of diversity — as some at Yale have claimed.”

One of the most academically exclusive universities in the country, Yale admitted Hashemi despite the fact that he has only a fourth grade education.

On Tuesday Sen. Cornyn wrote to the Homeland Security chief, Michael Chertoff, about the Yale Taliban. In a letter posted to Human Events’ Web site, he asked: “I would like to know what steps the Department of Homeland Security is taking to determine whether Mr. Hashemi was properly admitted and whether the Department of Homeland Security will seek to deport Mr. Hashemi under one of the terror-related grounds of removal.”