Federal authorities in Arizona have arrested two refugees from Africa. Their offense is conspiring to provide material support to ISIS. In both cases the conspiring terrorists entered the United States legally. They both came under an Obama era program.
The program welcomed and offered residency to hundreds of thousands of people. https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/u-s-gives-680000-green-cards-to-migrants-from-muslim-nations/ The majority came from Muslim countries notorious for terrorist activity. In both instances the terrorists settled in Tucson, about 70 miles north of the Mexican border. The incidents call into question the vetting process used with these immigrants or its failure.
Somali refugees support ISIS
In the most recent case FBI agents arrested two Somali men. They arrested 21-year-old Ahmed Mahad Mohamed and 20-year-old Abdi Yemani Hussein. During an undercover probe the men “repeatedly demonstrated their allegiance and support for ISIS.” That information comes from an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1188616/download
Mohamed and Hussein also discussed their desire and plans to join ISIS overseas. Both men purchased airline tickets from Tucson to Cairo, Egypt. The affidavit includes online and personal communications. The suspects and undercover agents exchanged communications. In those communications the young men were expressing their plan to behead non-believers of Islam like animals.
What these refugees though we need…
“The best wakeup call is Islamic State to get victory or another 911,” according to one of Mohamed’s emails with an undercover agent. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-men-arrested-conspiring-provide-material-support-isis
Hussein wrote that he wanted to blow up the White House and Tucson if anyone tries to stop him. Both men disclosed that they strived to be the most wanted terrorists in the world. Mohamed and Hussein lived in the U.S. legally. They entered as refugees from Somalia, according to the FBI document.
“At the time of their arrest, Mohamed had obtained lawful permanent resident status and Hussein remained a refugee,” according to a Justice Department statement.
Plan “B”
Plan “B” for Mohamed and Hussein was to conduct an attack within the United States if travel was impossible. The pair wanted to travel to Sinai, an Egyptian peninsula, to join ISIS. That area borders Israel and the Gaza Strip. The State Department warns against travel to the region due to terrorism.
“The Sinai Peninsula remains a particularly dangerous area, with frequent attacks on security forces and civilians,” the agency writes in its warning to American citizens.
Planned travel to the area by two African young men welcomed as refugees by the U.S. caught the attention of federal authorities.
Not an isolated case
In a similar case out of Tucson last fall, an Ethiopian man discovered to be a terrorist. He lied to the government about his identity. The man, Mohamed Abdirahman Osman, and his wife, Zeinab Abdirahman Mohamed, lived in Tucson. America invited them into the country as refugees in 2014. https://www.judicialwatch.org/documents/osman-indictment/
Less than a year ago a grand jury indicted the couple. The charges: making false statements to a government agency and lying. They lied about the husband’s ties to the militant Somali group Al-Shabaab. Osman used a fake Somalian passport to get to the U.S. That is according to the 11-count indictment.
The indictment charged the husband with eight crimes and the wife with three. Her crimes were for helping him conceal his true identity. Osman and his wife fled to China. There they applied for refugee status with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer using an alias.
Documents submitted by the couple contained “false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements,” according to the indictment. There are gaping vulnerabilities in the refugee program.