Posted on 08/14/2006 4:22:31 PM PDT by Flavius
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A nationwide search for 11 Egyptian students who failed to show up for an academic program in Montana has ended with the last two caught outside their rented apartment in Virginia, U.S. authorities said on Monday.
Several of the missing Egyptian students apprehended around the United States over the past week told immigration authorities they had planned to live and work in the United States, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said.
"Rather than seeking to attend the academic program in Montana, they actually were here to stay, get jobs, and earn money," said agency spokesman Dean Boyd.
The students did not pose "any credible or imminent threat," but the U.S. agency said it will seek to have them deported.
The last two missing students -- Mohamed Saleh Ahmed Maray, age 20, and Mohamed Ibrahim Fouaad El Shenawy, age 17 -- were arrested on Sunday on immigration violations while sitting on the front steps of the apartment they had rented in Richmond, Virginia. Agents were acting on a tip.
Two others caught near Baltimore last week had begun working at a pizza restaurant, Boyd said.
The 11 students were part of a group of 17 who arrived on July 29 in New York, supposedly en route to Bozeman, Montana, to attend a month-long academic program.
When only six students showed up in Bozeman, the school notified authorities who sent out a "be on the look out" request to police departments across the country.
The students were arrested alone or in groups of two or three in New Jersey, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, and Minnesota
So the little innocents lied to get into the country? No threat huh? Oh yeah, I feel safe don't you?
I'm glad they've been found. This whole thing is beyond odd.
Is the restaurant owner in jail yet?
You'd think a President that was on top of it would call a press conference and state that no more males from offending(all) muslim nations would no longer be allowed in our country. Further, all resources are directed at the apprehension, prosecution of all expired visas. Is that too much to ask or do we have to have another 10,000 of our citizens killed and scrotum checks at the airport first????
PS. Did you know that we allow more visas per year from Muslim countries than we did pre 9/11??? Sorry but its true..I read it on the internet.
There are many who come into the country on student or tourist visas, and melt into the population. The estimates are that 40% of illegal aliens came in originally on a nonimmigrant visa and stayed.
If the federal government is reading this, please don't do it, it's sarcasm.
And we all know who invented that ! ;)
Love your moniker. Are you the one that makes...THE CALL?
You'd think a President that was on top of it
Says it all. And he's the best we have in Washington. Pathetic.
This administration talks loudly but carries no enforcement stick. It has, in every sense of the idiomatic term, stood the concept of our territorial integrity on its proverbial head.
That is a well rounded u.
Would love to know who their landlord is.
I'm getting REALLY tired of that statement.
I eagerly await the prosecution of that restaurant. Don't worry, I won't be holding my breath.
>Did you know that we allow more visas per year from Muslim countries than we did pre-9/11?<
Of course. Doesn't our gubmint always want to follow UK's lead? It's all part of the big plan. No doubt at the last minute all the bureaucrats are going to convert to save their greasy necks. I don't understand why some Republican patriots up on the hill don't begin to scream against what is happening to our country. I guess they're all bought and paid for.
Sort of like the College student who blew himself up outside a packed stadium. Nothing to see. Move along!
With my Wifes permission... :)
Based on this, I think NO students from Muslim countries should be allowed Student Visas for at least a year. That would take some of the pressure off the authorities, and they can search for the others who are here and are not attending the universities to which they were supposed to go.
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