Petition to Deport Piers Morgan Gains Internet Fame - East Idaho News
Politics

Petition to Deport Piers Morgan Gains Internet Fame

  Published at

Getty E 080511 PiersMorgan?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1356370701606Dave Hogan/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — A petition asking President Obama to deport CNN anchor Piers Morgan gathered more than 33,000 signatures in just three days.

The petition on the White House’s “We the People” website posted Friday has crossed the 25,000 threshold needed to solicit a response from President Obama. But unlike the petitions to reduce gun violence that Obama addressed last week, this one isn’t likely to receive a favorable response.

The petition takes aim at Morgan for his impassioned defense of proposed gun control legislation on air this week. It accuses him of launching “a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment.”

But according to immigration attorney Mark Schifanelli, it would take more than expressing an opinion on television to get Morgan booted out of the country. The Department of Homeland Security would have the power to start a deportation process on Morgan if it was warranted, Schifanelli said, but even then, there’s no guarantee Morgan wouldn’t win the right to stay in an appeals process.

“He’s got certain rights,” Schifanelli told ABC News Monday. “Even as a foreign national in the United States, he’s afforded various rights under national security law and due process.”

What’s more, Morgan’s supposed attack on the Second Amendment is likely protected by the First Amendment. His speech would have to present “immediate danger” in order to break the law. Schifanelli said it’s unlikely Morgan’s defense of gun restrictions would meet that requirement.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION