Posted on 08/16/2006 1:12:51 AM PDT by Rte66
(WCCO) Bloomington, Minn. For the first time today, we heard from the Egyptian foreign exchange student arrested in Minneapolis.
Eslam El-Dessouki is one of eleven young men authorities picked up after entering the country on student visas, but never showing up at school.
In a Bloomington, Minn. immigration courtroom, a judge asked the student some very tough questions.
Several times, the Egyptian student was asked, "Why didn't you go to Montana State as required by your student visa?"
El-Dessouki said, "It was the first time out of my country, I just think to visit my uncle... I didn't know if I didn't attend school it would be a crime."
(Excerpt) Read more at wcco.com ...
El-Dessouki’s attorney said it was an innocent mistake.
"I think he meant well," immigration attorney Herbert Igbanugo said. "He didn’t understand the law. His uncles actually didn't understand the law because they gave him some bad advice."
Igbanugo explained that the student’s uncles live in Minneapolis. They thought that he could transfer to a different school on his visa instead of attending Montana State University where he had already been accepted.
Earlier in August, when the 17 Egyptian students landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, they said they got separated during customs inspections. El-Dessouki said he then couldn't find his gate and he missed his Montana flight.
"I think the story about what happened at the airport is extremely questionable," Judge Joseph Dierkes said. "I mean, he had a ticket to go to Montana."
After missing his flight, El-Dessouki hopped a Greyhound from New York to Minneapolis and stayed with his uncle.
Igbanugo said the student didn’t know he was wanted by the FBI the situation sure looked bad at the time.
El-Dessouki visited the U and applied later applied for an official Minnesota state identification card.
He told the judge that's proof he wasn't hiding out.
The judge granted El-Dessouki a bond of $1,700. So even though a nationwide manhunt put him behind bars, he could have been released and returned to Minneapolis Wednesday.
That didn't happen. Immigration officials took steps to keep him in jail.
Igbanugo said since this is a highly-publicized, officials want to keep him in jail even though officials have said none of the students was a direct threat. But the immigration official at the court hearing complained the case was a distraction since FBI had to round up all the missing students at a time when agents wanted to focus on heightened homeland security concerns.
Igbanugo predicted the U.S will probably move to have his client sent back to Egypt in the coming weeks.
"My first time out of my country" ... but I hopped a Greyhound from New York City to Minneapolis.
Oh-kay.
One or Two deciding not to report to their school would be suspicious enough.. but Eleven taking off for different parts of the country is very odd.
Most of the 9/11 hijackers were on student visas.
None are believed to pose a terrorist or criminal threat, per ICE. I think they were sent to probe security. Just send them all back to Cairo. Innocent mistake huh? Ignorance of the law is not a excuse.
But you see...Islam has a different set of laws. Of course it isn't a crime.
or, having missed the flight, why couldn't the next flight out be taken.
I'll be generous and assume he is not the sharpest tack in the box.
Ah, come on guys, give Eslam a break....
He REALLY did only want to merely transfer to a different school.....
Flying School.....
One that skipped those boring bits at the begining and ending of a flight.... Just the fun bit there in the middle.
Send the 11, plus ALL muslim-islamic-arab students back to the turd-world hellholes they came from. This insanity has to stop. We have hundreds of thousands of muslim-islamic-arab terrorists already here, waiting for 'their turn'. Whether it's gathering intel, probing security or conducting 'dry-runs', we're nuts for allowing this crap to take place!
Yeah, yeah, that's the ticker. 11 foreign students come to study at a particular school, but don't show up for classes at all. Who in his right mind would believe this cock and bull story for even a second?
Come to think of it, he *was* the first one caught, lol!
This was only a 4 week summer course. The 11 who went this way and that and anywhere BUT to the college they were supposed to go to, have all been expelled from their school back home. Once they get back home, their lives will be over. Their parents paid thousands of dollars to send then here and some of the parents, who have been interviewed, thought it was perfectly okay to spend that kind of money to get the kid into the USA, so that he could work. They KNEW what was going to happen, once the boys got here and it wasn't going to college for 4 weeks in Montana.
Why has this handful of Egyptians raised such a visible fuss, when there are many other would-be foreign students that decide to sightsee instead and the public does not hear about it. Some kind of dirt about Egypt must have turned up.
Agree 100%. Yes, a probe.
All student visas from Muslim countries should be revoked and none issued for the forseeable future, no offense intended of course. It's insanity to let these people into this country.
At what sort of job that would make the initial investment worthwhile?
No offense, but if you think this guy is just dumb, well, it makes you not exactly the sharpest tack. I'll be generous and just chalk it up to your being young and gung ho. :>
Agree 100%. STOP THE INSANITY!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.