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US officials: Ex-ISIS fighter entered US as refugee

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US officials: Ex-ISIS fighter entered US as refugee
News

News

US officials: Ex-ISIS fighter entered US as refugee

2018-08-17 02:07 Last Updated At:02:40

An Iraqi man arrested in California is accused of being a former Islamic State fighter and killing a police officer in Iraq after he qualified to be resettled in the U.S. as part of a refugee program.

The case has drawn attention amid criticism by the Trump administration of the vetting process involved in the nation's refugee resettlement program.

U.S. officials plan to extradite Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, 45, to Iraq under a treaty with that nation. He made his first appearance in federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday after his arrest at an apartment building in the California capitol.

Ameen left Iraq and fled in 2012 to Turkey, where he applied to be accepted as a refugee to the U.S., according to court documents.

After he was granted that status in June 2014, prosecutors say he returned to Iraq and killed a police officer. The town of Rawah fell to Islamic State that same month. Five months later, Ameen traveled to the United States to be resettled as a refugee.

He was arrested by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force based on a warrant issued in May by an Iraqi federal court in Baghdad. Ameen could face execution for the "organized killing by an armed group," according to Iraqi documents filed in U.S. federal court.

Ameen did not disclose his membership in two terrorist groups when he later applied for a green card in the United States, officials said.

The Trump administration has sharply criticized the Obama-era resettlement program, questioning whether enough was done to weed out those with terrorist ties.

State Department and Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to questions about Ameen.

Benjamin Galloway, one of Ameen's public defenders, said he had just 10 minutes to meet with his client prior to his initial federal court appearance Wednesday, and attorneys hadn't decided whether to contest that Ameen is the man wanted by Iraqi authorities.

Ameen was identified by a witness to the slaying who viewed a series of photographs of ISIS members, according to the Iraqi documents.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has been investigating Ameen over the filing of fraudulent travel or immigration documents since 2016, according to a court filing. It says the FBI independently corroborated Ameen's involvement with the terrorist organizations and participation in the slaying.

Ameen was dressed in street clothes, including a light blue T-shirt, as he appeared in court handcuffed to a chain around his waist.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund Brennan accepted prosecutors' argument that Ameen is dangerous and a flight risk and ordered him detained until his next court appearance set for Monday.

Prosecutors said in court filings that the release of a person suspected of being a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization would be a national security risk.

The Iraqi arrest warrant and extradition request say Ameen entered his hometown of Rawah in the Anbar province of Iraq in a four-vehicle ISIS caravan and drove to the home of Ihsan Abdulhafiz Jasim, who had served with the Rawah Police Department. He and at least five other named suspects opened fire and the man shot back, but the documents allege that Ameen fatally shot the man in the chest as he lay on the ground.

Militants later claimed responsibility for the slaying on social media.

The FBI has interviewed at least eight witnesses who identify the Ameen family — including Ameen himself, his father, brothers, and paternal cousins — as affiliated with al Qaeda and ISIS, prosecutors said.

Court documents say Ameen's family also aided al Qaeda in Rawah and that Ameen was a member of both al Qaida in Iraq and ISIS. The documents say he did a number of things in support of the groups, including helping plant improvised bombs, transporting militants, soliciting funds and robbing supply trucks and kidnapping drivers on behalf of al Qaida.

The FBI quotes one witness as saying Ameen's vehicle in 2005 was a Kia Sportage flying a black al Qaida flag with a cut-out roof and a machine gun mounted on the rear.

Associated Press reporters Sophia Bollag in Sacramento and Julie Watson in San Diego contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.

The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.

The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.

“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.

Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.

The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.

“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.

The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.

They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.

Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.

Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.

Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”

In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”

The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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