U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden on Monday detailed a four-point plan to combat terror recruitment in Minnesota, chief among them revoking the passports of Americans known to be recruited by Islamic State militants.

"What I don't want to do is wait until it's too late," said McFadden, a Sunfish Lake businessman who is the Republican challenger to Sen. Al Franken.

McFadden's plan includes:

  • Improving education and employment resources and opportunities, particularly in the Twin Cities Somali community.
  • Building community mentorship and after-school programs
  • Forming partnerships between communities and local law enforcement
  • Requiring the U.S. State Department to revoke the passports of Americans known to be fighting for ISIS.

McFadden has for weeks emphasized the need for the U.S. State Department to revoke the passports of ISIS recruits who travel overseas. The issue is of grave concern in the Twin Cities Somali community, where federal authorities say upward of a dozen Somali men and three women from Minnesota have fled the country to fight alongside or aid extremists in the Middle East. A similar proposal is outlined in a bill authored by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. However, he attributes it to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron.

"If you leave this country to fight with a terrorist organization you will lose your passport. And that's not a threat, that's a promise." McFadden said. "We need to communicate with this community in Minnesota and across this country so that people know what the repercussions will be if they decide to leave this country to join terrorist organizations."

McFadden said stripping a passport does not mean a citizenship would be revoked, and there would be due process opportunities to attempt to get it back.

The U.S. Justice Department recently announced a federal pilot program to take on terror recruiting, focused in part in the Twin Cities. McFadden said more needs to be done.

"The fact that this continues to take place and has taken place since 2007 is problematic. The idea that there are Americans fighting with ISIS who continue to have their passports and have the capability to come back into the United States and perpetrate a terrorist attack is a huge issue." he said. "I don't think you can just defer that to the Justice Department. I think this is an issue that is significant enough that if I was in Congress, I think Congress should be significantly involved in making sure that it is appropriately addressed. "