National Security

Man Wanted In NYC Bombing Joins Growing List Of ‘Citizen’ Terrorists

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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Rachel Stoltzfoos Staff Reporter
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Ahmad Khan Rahami is set to join a list of at least 15 U.S. citizens arrested in recent years on terror-related charges who are immigrants admitted to the United States legally before obtaining citizenship.

Rahami is wanted by the FBI in connection to the bombing in New York City Saturday night that left 29 people injured, and is potentially involved in the placement of two other bombs in New Jersey. Originally from Afghanistan, Rahami is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was last known to reside in Elizabeth, N.J.

More than 70 U.S. residents have been publicly arrested and charged with conspiring to help, attempting to help, or actually helping terror networks such as Islamic State in recent years. At least 15 of them received U.S. citizenship after being admitted to the country legally, including one of the Boston bombers. (RELATED: U.S. Refugee Chief Didn’t Know Boston Bombers Were Refugees)

Here are five examples.

Two immigrants from Pakistan who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship were convicted of plotting to detonate a bomb in New York City in 2012, and were sentenced to a combined 55 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors accused a Somalian immigrant who became a U.S. citizen of plotting to “go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style.” The man had trained with a terrorist group in Syria and was told to return to the U.S. and carry out an act of terror.

An immigrant brought by his family from Kuwait at a young age and later approved for U.S. citizenship killed four Marines in a shooting rampage at two military centers in Chattanooga, Tenn., in July.

A woman born in Saudi Arabia who obtained U.S. citizenship and taught pre-school in Queens, N.Y., was arrested on terror charges in April. She and a friend also living in Queens pledged allegiance to Islamic State and considered bombing a police funeral. FBI raids on their apartments turned up bomb-making materials, including propane tanks and a pressure cooker, in addition to bomb recipes and jihadi literature.

An immigrant from Ghana who obtained U.S. citizenship was arrested in June and charged with conspiring to support a terrorist group after investigators allegedly found he was plotting a terror attack on New York City landmarks in the name of Islamic State.

The Obama administration has ignored a request from Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions for detailed immigration histories of 72 U.S. residents arrested in 2015 on terror-related charges.

Editor’s note: This post has been updated, and originally appeared on September 18, 2015. 

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