{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221124224/http://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=ac72ef69-5da2-4e59-95cc-8eb4eef59f5b", "Risch Applauds State Department for Finally Designating Boko Haram as Foreign Terrorist Organization", "2013-11-13", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "ID", "Jim Risch", "R000584", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Jim Risch today applauded the State Department for finally designating Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Risch has urged the State Department to do so for over two years.\nThe Nigerian Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram is officially known as \u201cPeople Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad.\u201d It is committed to the imposition of Sharia Law throughout northern Nigeria and rejects Western-style life. Boko Haram militants have carried out violent operations against government targets, Christian churches, and targets they consider to be Western.\nOn August 26, 2011, Boko Haram detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), which they had crashed into the U.N. headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. They also conducted coordinated attacks on Christmas Day in 2011, Easter 2012, and frequent attacks against police and military facilities.\u00a0\n\u201cFor over two years I have been asking the Department of State to designate Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization,\u201d said Risch.\u00a0 \u201cThat is why I authored the Boko Haram Terrorist Designation Act of 2013 in January.\u00a0 This legislation made the case for why Boko Haram is a terrorist organization and should be designated as such.\u00a0 I am glad that the Department of State has finally come around on this important national security issue.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\nLegal Ramifications of Designation\n \nIt is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide material support or resources to an FTO;\nRepresentatives and members of a designated FTO, if they are aliens, are inadmissible to and, in certain circumstances, removable from the United States;\nAny U.S. financial institution that becomes aware that it has possession of or control over funds in which a designated FTO or its agent has an interest must retain possession of or control over the funds and report the funds to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.\n \n\u00a0Other Effects of Designation\nAccording to the Department of State, listing a terrorist organization as an FTO supports \u201cour efforts to curb terrorism financing.\u201d Though not a formal part of the legal framework for FTO designation, adding a group to the list can encourage other nations to do the same. The Bureau of Counterterrorism suggests an FTO designation:\n\u00a0Stigmatizes and isolates designated terrorist organizations internationally\n \nDeters donations or contributions to and economic transactions with named organizations\nHeightens public awareness and knowledge of terrorist organizations\nSignals to other governments our concern about named organizations\n \n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221124224/http://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=ac72ef69-5da2-4e59-95cc-8eb4eef59f5b"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.3253620602190495, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}