Feds Probing Possible Minn. Terror Group

A naturalized U.S. citizen who reportedly blew himself up in a suicide bomb attempt in Somalia last month might have recruited others to join a terror network, U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.

The officials believe Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia, blew himself up in a suicide bombing in northern Somalia Oct. 28.

More than a dozen young men of Somali descent....from the Minneapolis area have recently disappeared, U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News. All are thought to be associates of Ahmed.

U.S. officials suspect that most of the young men have departed for Somalia to fight in ongoing violence there or to train in terrorist camps.

The investigation has not uncovered credible evidence of a plot targeting the U.S. homeland, but U.S. officials want to track down all these young men before they can say for certain what this is or is not....

CIA director Michael Hayden recently voiced his concern about increased fighting in Somalia and the Horn of Africa and the desire of al Qaeda to strengthen its ties in Somalia.

"In East Africa, al Qaeda's engaging Somali extremists to revitalize operations," said Hayden.

"A merger between al-Shabaab and al Qaeda could give Somali extremists much-needed funding while al Qaeda could then claim to be re-establishing its operations based in East Africa,"

Two weeks ago, officials in Boston arrested a U.S. citizen traveling to Somalia who was reportedly in communication with Daniel Maldonado, a Muslim convert who moved from the Houston area in 2005 and eventually ended up in an al Qaeda training camp near Mogadishu.

In the recent Boston case, Tarek Mehanna was charged with making false statements for allegedly lying to the FBI about his communications with Maldonado while he was in Egypt and Somalia.

Mike Cutler sent out this article with his comments.

What many people don't realize is how many news reports have an inherent significant immigration component. I sometimes feel as though I am standing in front of a gushing fire hydrant with an 8 ounce glass, trying to capture as much water as I can!

The significance of the ABC news report should be apparent. According to the report, a naturalized United States citizen, Shirwa Ahmed, is believed to have committed a suicide bombing in Somalia and may have been involved in the recruitment of young men of Somali descent here in the United States.

The news report further stated that more than a dozen such men, perhaps as many as 40, mostly in their 20's have "disappeared."

Here are the most important questions:

How did Shirwa Ahmed acquire citizenship through the naturalization process? Did he come here as a young child and naturalize through his parents or did he recently acquire United States citizenship by committing immigration fraud? How many more people are now operating in our country or seeking to enter our country in support of terrorist objectives?

There have been a number of GAO (General Accountability Office) reports pointing to nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance at USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) where, to cite one example, in a report issued two years ago, USCIS allegedly claimed to have lost 111,000 immigration files of aliens who applied for a variety of immigration benefits including some 30,000 such files relating to applications for naturalization. Incredibly, according to the GAO, the applications for those benefits, including those applications for naturalization were processed without the relevant and critically important files!

Consider this segment from the press release that was issued by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security when they received the GAO report:

November 28, 2006 image GAO REPORT INDICATES UP TO 30,000 CITIZENSHIP APPLICATIONS PROCESSED WITHOUT CONSULATION OF IMPORTANT BACKGROUND MATERIALS

Washington, DC - Senators Chuck Grassley and Susan Collins today released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that says 111,000 alien files (A-files) were missing in 14 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices. The report also says that as many as 30,000 immigrants’ applications to become U.S. citizens were processed despite the missing files.

You can read the entire press release at:

http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&Affiliation=R&PressRelease_id=acd397d2-62e8-4ed1-9a5b-a648f54d5fad&Month=11&Year=2006

The GAO report bears the innocuous sounding title:

"IMMIGRATION BENEFITS Additional Efforts Needed to Help Ensure Alien Files Are Located when Needed"

You can read the entire report at:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0785.pdf

Immigration fraud has been an important component of the strategies employed by terrorists operating our country for many years, including the terrorists who attacked our nation in 1993 when Amir Kansi, a Pakistani national who had committed fraud in filing for political asylum stood outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia in January 1993 and shot 5 CIA employees who were reporting for work with an AK-47. Two of those employees died and 3 others were wounded. On February 26, 1993, when the first attack was carried out at the World Trade Center complex, immigration fraud was again a significant factor.

On September 1, 2006 I was called to testify before a field hearing called by the House Judiciary Committee in Dubuque, Iowa on the topic:

"IS THE REID-KENNEDY BILL A REPEAT OF THE FAILED AMNESTY OF 1986?"

You can read the transcript of the hearing at:

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju29745.000/hju29745_0.htm

The focus of that hearing was the issue of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

During the course of delivering my prepared testimony for that hearing, I made a point about immigration fraud I believe is worth considering today as you read the news report below.

A notable example of such a terrorist can be found in a review of the facts concerning Mahmud Abouhalima, a citizen of Egypt who entered the United States on a tourist visa, overstayed his authorized period of admission and then applied for amnesty under the agricultural worker provisions of IRCA. He succeeded in obtaining resident alien status through this process.

During the 5 year period he drove a cab and had his license suspended numerous times for various violations of law and he ultimately demonstrated his appreciation for our Nation's generosity by participating in the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that left six people dead, hundreds of people injured and an estimated one-half billion dollars in damages inflicted on that iconic, ill-fated complex. America had opened his doors to him so that he might participate in the American dream and he turned that dream into our worst nightmare.

The other terrorists who attacked our Nation on subsequent attacks, including the attacks of September 11, 2001, similarly exploited our generosity, seeing in our Nation's kindness, weakness, gaming the immigration system to enter our country and then hide in plain sight among us.

Today, once again, we are being informed about a naturalized citizen who may well have used his position as a citizen of our country against our nation and against our citizens.

We need to know if the young men who are described as having gone missing may have similarly gamed the immigration bureaucracy in order to enter our country and/or embed themselves in our country.

This is not about creating xenophobia as the open border advocates often accuse those of us who have fact-based concerns. This is about making certain that an important component of national security lives up to its obligation to honor those aliens whose presence in our country contributes to the magnificent tapestry that makes up our country by keeping out those whose intentions are not benign but are rather seeking our destruction.

I would ask that you consider a segment of a report that was prepared by Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 Commission concerning immigration fraud and national security:

Consider the report that Janice Kephart, a former counsel to the 911 Commission, wrote when she appeared at a panel discussion hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies, the Washington-based think tank with which I am associated You can read her report at the following link: http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/kephart.html

I have attached the introduction of that report below:

"OH GOD, you who open all doors, please open all doors for me, open all venues for me, open all avenues for me. -- Mohammed Atta

Executive Summary This report covers the immigration histories of 94 terrorists who operated in the United States between the early 1990's and 2004, including six of the September 11th hijackers. Other than the hijackers, almost all of these individuals have been indicted or convicted for their crimes. The report builds on prior work done by 9/11 Commission and the Center for Immigration Studies, providing more information than has been previously been made public.

The findings show widespread terrorist violations of immigration laws. (Emphasis mine.) The report highlights the danger of our lax immigration system, not just in terms of who is allowed in, but also how terrorists, once in the country, used weaknesses in the system to remain here. The report makes clear that strict enforcement of immigration law -- at American consulates overseas, at ports of entry, and within the United States -- must be an integral part of our efforts to prevent future attacks on U.S. soil.

Among the findings:

· Of the 94 foreign-born terrorists who operated in the United States, the study found that about two-thirds (59) committed immigration fraud prior to or in conjunction with taking part in terrorist activity.

· Of the 59 terrorists who violated the law, many committed multiple immigration violations -- 79 instances in all.

· In 47 instances, immigration benefits sought or acquired prior to 9/11 enabled the terrorists to stay in the United States after 9/11 and continue their terrorist activities. In at least two instances, terrorists were still able to acquire immigration benefits after 9/11.

· Temporary visas were a common means of entering; 18 terrorists had student visas and another four had applications approved to study in the United States. At least 17 terrorists used a visitor visa -- either tourist (B2) or business (B1).

· There were 11 instances of passport fraud and 10 instances of visa fraud; in total 34 individuals were charged with making false statements to an immigration official.

· In at least 13 instances, terrorists overstayed their temporary visas.

· In 17 instances, terrorists claimed to lack proper travel documents and applied for asylum, often at a port of entry.

· Fraud was used not only to gain entry into the United States, but also to remain, or "embed," in the country.

· Seven terrorists were indicted for acquiring or using various forms of fake identification, including driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards, and immigration arrival records.

· Once in the United States, 16 of 23 terrorists became legal permanent residents, often by marrying an American. There were at least nine sham marriages.

· In total, 20 of 21 foreign terrorists became naturalized U.S. citizens".

As you consider all of the facts I have laid out in my commentary and as you read the worrisome news reports below, I would ask that you remember that our nation's leaders are apparently gearing up to foist an amnesty program on our nation and our citizens.

That amnesty program would be administered by the inept and incompetent USCIS.

I have written this commentary to try to alert you to the challenges confronting our nation. Now it is up to you, the citizens of this nation, to contact your elected representatives and demand that they represent you and your family and to protect our nation. This is the burden all Americans must bear.

Many years ago there was a clever campaign mounted by the American Red Cross. They hung signs in buses and subway cars in New York City that were aimed at those New Yorkers who would fail to donate blood by saying, "Remember, to the other guy, you are the other guy! This certainly applies in this situation.

The safety of our nation begins at its borders. It is therefore essential that our borders be secured and that our immigration bureaucracy honor those who abide by the laws and seeks to weed out those who would commit fraud and those who would assist them.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

-michael cutler-

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