[The author is an Associate Professor of Law in the Department of Law, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY; an immigration attorney; and a lieutenant colonel in the Military Police Corps, U.S. Army Reserve. The opinions expressed herein are the author's only, and not the opinion of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense, or any other government agency.]

According to reports in the Associated Press yesterday, Hakeem Olajuwon, the basketball star, gave more than $80,000 to charities the government later determined to be fronts for the terror groups al-Qaida and Hamas.

Olajuwon told the AP he had not known of any links to terrorism when the donations were made, prior to the government's crackdown on the groups, and would not have given the money if he had known. Olajuwon was born in Nigeria, and became a US citizen in 1993. As a US citizen, he cannot be deported-but had he not obtained his US citizenship prior to making these charitable donations, H.R. 418, a bill being debated on Capitol Hill today, would require his deportation. H.R. 418, "The REAL ID Act," would broaden the definition of "engage in terrorist activity" to include activities such as Olajuwon's charitable contributions. Under present law, an alien can argue that he did not "engage in terrorist activity" if he can show that he did not and should not have reasonably known that his charitable donation would further terrorist activities. Under H.R. 418, however, someone like Olajuwon would have to show "by clear and convincing evidence" that he did not know the charities were connected to terrorism. Olajuwon would have difficulty meeting this standard, because at the time he made his donations, the U.S. government had cut off government grants to the charities, a former fundraiser for the charities had been publicly named as a terrorist, and numerous news organizations had reported that one of the charities was under scrutiny for possible terrorist ties. H.R. 418 is also retroactive-if enacted, it will cover all acts and conditions constituting a ground of inadmissibility or deportability, even if those acts took place years ago.

Although Federal law enforcement officials said they were not investigating Olajuwon, H.R. 418 will apply to any aliens who made similar charitable contributions in the past. The grounds of deportability and inadmissibility will apply even to donations that were made before the government designated the charities as terrorist fronts. An alien's family members can also be deported under this proposed law.