U.S. government officials implicated at least 12 refugees in terrorist cases this year, Alabama Republican Sen. [crscore]Jeff Sessions[/crscore] said in a press release Tuesday.
One examples cited by Sessions’ office is Liban Haji Mohamed, a native of Somalia who was arrested for allegedly providing material support to the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate.
According to the Justice Department, “sources indicate [that Mohamed] came to the United States as a refugee” before becoming a naturalized citizen.
At the time, Carl Ghattas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office stressed the importance of locating Mohammed, “because he has knowledge of the Washington, D.C. area’s infrastructure such as shopping areas, Metro, airports, and government buildings. … This makes him an asset to his terrorist associates who might plot attacks on U.S. soil.”
One month later on Feb. 5, Somalia native Abdinassir Mohamud Ibrahim was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide material support to Al-Shabaab. Ibrahim entered the U.S. as a refugee in 2007 at the age of 22 by lying on his application for U.S. citizenship that he had not supported terrorists.
“Ibrahim knowingly lied in his application for naturalization as he had previously lied on his request for refugee status, falsely claiming that he was of a member of the minority Awer clan in Somalia and subject to persecution by the majority Hawiye clan,” the Justice Department wrote. “However, Ibrahim was actually a member of the Hawiye clan and not subject to persecution”
Sessions lists other refugees who have been implicated in terrorist cases this year, including: Abdullah Ramo Pazara, Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, Sedina Unkic Hodzic, Armin Harcevic, Nihad Rosic, Mediha Medy, Jasminka Ramic, Abdurahman Yasin Daud, Guled Ali Omar and Fazliddin Kurbanov.
Supporters of President Obama’s push to accept more Syrian refugees argue not one refugee who has been resettled since the 9/11 attacks has been “arrested on domestic terrorism charges.”
That claim, which The Washington Post gave two Pinocchios, stems from a story in The Economist citing data from Migration Policy Institute.
Sessions and Alabama Republican Sen. [crscore]Richard Shelby[/crscore] are trying to stop Obama’s refugee plan by requiring Congress to vote on any future resettlement.