Iraqi Refugee, Alleged Islamic State Murderer, Arrested in California, by
Michael Patrick Leahy, 8/16/18, Breitbart.
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested an Iraqi
refugee in Sacramento, California on Wednesday on the authority of an arrest
warrant for the 2014 murder of an Iraqi police officer issued by an Iraqi judge
on May 16.
“Omar Ameen, 45, an Iraqi
national, wanted on a murder charge in Iraq, appeared before a federal
magistrate judge in Sacramento, California today in connection with proceedings
to extradite him to face trial in Iraq. Ameen settled in Sacramento as a
purported refugee and attempted to gain legal status in the United States,” the
Department of Justice said in a statement released late
Wednesday.
Court documents alleged
that Ameen, who entered the United States from Turkey in November 2014 through
the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, led a four truck ISIS caravan to Rahwah,
Iraq where he murdered the police officer on June 22, 2014.
The arrest was announced
by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S.
Attorney McGregor W. Scott for the Eastern District of California, Assistant
Director Michael McGarrity of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, and Special
Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the FBI’s Sacramento Field Office,” the DOJ said in the statement:
An arrest warrant charging
Ameen with the 2014 murder of an Iraqi police officer was issued on May 16, by
a judge of the Baghdad Federal Al-Karkh Inquiry Court. In accordance with its
treaty obligations with Iraq, the United States filed a complaint in Sacramento
seeking a warrant for Ameen’s arrest based on the extradition request. U.S.
Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan issued the warrant on Tuesday, and Ameen was
arrested by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Sacramento today.
The Iraqi arrest warrant
and extradition request allege that after the town of Rawah, Iraq fell to the
Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) on June 21, 2014, Ameen entered the
town with a caravan of ISIS vehicles and drove to the house of the victim, who
had served as an officer in the Rawah Police Department. On the evening of June
22, 2014, after the caravan arrived at the victim’s house, Ameen and other
members of the convoy allegedly opened fire on the victim. Ameen then allegedly
fired his weapon at the victim while the victim was on the ground, killing him.
The arrest comes one month
before President Trump announces his presidential determination of the cap on
the number of refugees to be admitted into the country in FY 2019, and
underscores the validity of one of the major themes of his successful 2016
Presidential campaign: unvetted refugees who pose a security risk from hotbeds
of terrorism were being granted entry into the United State by the Obama
administration.
Court documents presented
on Wednesday outline what appears to be a highly sophisticated ruse by Ameen,
who along with many members of his family has been a member of ISIS and its
predecessor Islamist terrorist organizations since at least 2004, to gain
approval into the U.S. Refugee Admissions program by making a number of false
statements, and then use his approved U.S. refugee status as a getaway
mechanism after carrying out the 2014 murder of the Iraqi police officer.
The Memorandum of
Extradition Law and Request for Detention Pending Extradition Proceedings filed
with the Court on Wednesday by U.S. Attorney McGregor details
these specific facts:
·
Evidence from both the Iraq National Security Service,
provided in the extradition request, as well as the FBI, obtained through its
own investigation, indicates since at least 2004, Ameen has been a member of
first AQI, then ISIS in Iraq.
·
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 AQI and ISIS. According to witnesses, it is common
knowledge in Rawah, Iraq, that Ameen was a main local figure of AQI and ISIS.
The Ameen family is alleged to be one of five native Rawah families that
founded AQI in the region.
·
In or about April 2012, Ameen arrived in Turkey and began the
process of applying for refugee status.
·
Ameen claimed on his Resettlement Registration Form before the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) that in 2010, his
father, Abdulsattar Ameen Hussein, was killed due to his cooperation with the
American military. . . In actuality, the death certificate for Abdulsattar
Ameen (which Ameen did not submit with any of his applications) indicates he
died from natural causes—a cerebral clot—on December 25, 2010.
·
Ameen claimed on his refugee application that on March 4, 2012,
when he was living in Baghdad with one of his brothers, their home was raided
by masked, black-clad men, and the brother was taken away and not heard from
again. Ameen claimed the he was able to escape, and attributed the raid and
kidnapping to the “Mahdi Army,” a reference to Jaish Al Mahdi (“JAM”).
According to Ameen, he feared persecution based on the kidnapping of his
brother if he were to remain in Iraq. Ameen repeated the claim of feared
persecution based on this brother’s disappearance on his adjustment of status
application.
·
In actuality, an arrest warrant was issued from the Higher
Judicial Court of Investigation in AlKarkh, on December 26, 2010, for the
arrest of that brother, Ameen, and two of his other brothers,charging them with
terrorism, in violation of Article 4/1 of the Counterterrorism Law of Iraq.
Remarkably, despite the
many false claims made by Ameen, and the existence of a warrent for his arrest
in Iraq, “Based on the written and verbal answers given by Ameen, his refugee
application was approved by USCIS on June 5, 2014,” the memorandum states:
But, it continues “Ameen
did not immigrate directly to the United States following the approval of his
application, but instead is alleged to have returned to Iraq to commit the
murder that is the subject of this extradition request.
The memorandum provides these details of
Ameen’s trip back to Iraq to commit the murder of the Iraqi police officer, and
his getaway to the United States via Turkey through the U.S. Refugee Admissions
Program:
·
Ameen’s passport does not reflect any departures from Turkey
after his entry on April 1, 2012. Nevertheless, Ameen stated during his May
2014 refugee interview with USCIS in Turkey that he had returned many times to
Iraq.
·
Ameen’s resume, prepared in 2018, is consistent with a return to
Iraq by on or about June 22, 2014 (the day of the fall of Rawah to ISIS). Ameen
lists employment in Turkey through May of 2014,then shows a gap in employment
until Ameen’s immigration to the United States.
·
Multiple witness interviewed by the FBI reported seeing Ameen in
Rawah in or about the time of the fall of Rawah to ISIS.
·
In another account of the murder given to the FBI by a witness
referenced in the extradition request, a witness gave a description of the ISIS
vehicle11 convoy. S/he recalled an AMRAP, a 2-cab Hilux, and a Humvee, each
carrying multiple males. The witness recalls each member of the convoy
brandishing some type of ISIS paraphernalia, including flags and vests. The
witness saw Omar Ameen in the convoy,and described him as having shoulder-length
hair, a beard, wearing Afghan garb, and carrying an AK-47. The witness
identified Ameen from this photo, one of a series of photos of individuals
shown to him/her on a smart phone.
·
Ameen returned to Turkey on an unknown date and traveled on to
the United States, arriving on November 4, 2014. After eventually settling in
Sacramento, California, Ameen filed an I-485, Application to Adjust Status.
·
In an interview on May 26, 2016, under oath in support of that
application, Ameen affirmed all the answers given in support of his refugee
application. Ameen stated that he had not given false testimony to enter the
United States, and also that he had not given false testimony to his refugee
application.
·
On his written I-485 application to adjust status, and also in
the interview, when asked “Have you EVER ordered, or called for, or assisted
with the killing of any person?” Ameen answered “no.” When asked “Have you ever
committed the killing of any person?” Ameen answered “no.” In actuality, on or
about June 22, 2014, Ameen is alleged to have killed Ihsan in collaboration
with other members of ISIS.
·
The stunning allegations against this unvetted Iraqi refugee who
arrived in the United States during the second term of the Obama administration
is in pointed contrast to the Trump administration’s handling of refugee
vetting.
President Trump has
delivered on his campaign promise to end the arrival of refugees from countries
that are hotbeds of terrorism.
In FY 2016, the last full
year of the Obama administration, 84,995 refugees were admitted to the
United States, more than 36,000 of which came from
seven countries which had been designated by the Department of State as hotbeds
of terrorism: Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
As of July 31 of this
year, more than 10 months into FY 2018, the first full fiscal year of the Trump
administration, 18,214 refugees have been admitted to
the United States, less than 1,000 arriving from those seven hotbed of
terrorism countries.
In September 2017,
President Trump announced a refugee cap of 45,000 for FY 2018. Less than half
that number will arrive this year.
Numerous press reports
indicate that the president is expected to announce an even lower refugee cap
for FY 2019–which could be anywhere from no refugees at all to 25,000.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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