SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Federal officials say an investigation in California into a refugee charged with attempting to support terrorist organizations led to the arrest of three of his relatives in Wisconsin in a separate case.
7:35 p.m.
Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, says the arrest of three suspects Thursday in Milwaukee wasn’t related to national security. She says the three are relatives of 23-year-old Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento, who was arrested Thursday and accused of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it.
FBI Milwaukee Division spokesman Leonard Peace says there was no threat to the public associated with the arrests.
Peace says the three haven’t made an initial court appearance. That’s expected Friday.
They were not identified, and no further details were immediately available.
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6:20 p.m.
Federal authorities in Texas have charged an Iraqi refugee with attempting to support the Islamic State.
They unsealed the indictment in Houston on Thursday as authorities in California charged a Syrian refugee with lying about his travels to fight in Syria.
The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston says 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston was indicted Wednesday on three charges of trying to provide material support to the Islamic State group.
The criminal complaint unsealed in Sacramento, California, accuses 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.
Authorities say both men are Palestinians born in Iraq.
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5:19 p.m.
Authorities say they have arrested two people on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas.
A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses a Sacramento man of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento says 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, an Iraqi citizen, was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento.
He is charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism.
Meanwhile, the governor and lieutenant governor of Texas praised the arrest in Houston of what Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called a terror suspect.
Patrick says in a statement that the arrests may have prevented a terror-related event.
Federal officials say a separate arrest in Milwaukee that grew out of the Sacramento investigation is not related to national security.
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I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. In the midst of those truly seeking asylum you will have a few who are in fact terrorist sympathizers and who would do harm to Americans.
How in the world are refugees so easily be given permanent residency and worse citizenship?
For the most part I’ve avoided commenting on the whole refugee issue because I would most likely be banned from commenting on TPM.
They are not given citizenship. Refugee status is separate from other immigration.
You won’t be banned unless you plant bogus GOP’er crap in here. You can take any position you like ( although most of the commenters are pretty uniform in their thinking and you’ll get a hell of a back lash if you cross that ). This isn’t Raw Story or Crooks and Liars where you best tow the line or the whiny assholes in the comment threads “turn you in”. I have’nt been to those lefty idiotic sites in years. Don’t miss em.
One thing that will get you flac in TPM is error. The folks in here are well informed. Refugees are granted a separate status that is nothing like “resident” and in no way like citizenship. You are premising your concerns on an error and that will get you guff. These guys are both from Iraq. Hard to turn down Refugees from that country if American actions are what created their refugee condition.
No one is advocating a “let em all in” position and those advocating a “none of em” position aren’t being taken seriously. We can’t deny them all and our vetting / screening is getting more diligent every day. No one, left or right, has a laissez faire attitude when it comes to terrorism, Some want to solve the problem and others just want to use it. That’s where the contrast is.
If they are IRAQI refugees, when did they come here? Did they come in with the Syrians or well before? Can someone tell me.
So does this indicate the danger of letting in refugees? Or does this indicate that our system is working.
I tend to think the latter.
Almost no action in life or government is without risk. There are reasons we have screening procedures for refugees.