Posted on 09/25/2002 7:08:39 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The Egyptian immigrant who killed two people and wounded several others at Los Angeles International Airport on July Fourth had admitted in 1992 to Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), officials that Egyptian authorities had accused him of being a member of a known terrorist organization, INS officials said Tuesday.
Despite this information the INS failed to investigate any links Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, had to an Egyptian extremist group even as it was considering his application for political asylum, government officials said, adding that a rigorous examination of the man’s asylum application could have ended with Mr. Hadayet being deported, according to Wednesday’s New York Times.
Hadayet, who owned an Orange County, California, limousine service fatally shot two people and injured several more at Israel's El Al airline’s ticketing area. He was shot and killed by an Israeli security guard.
Hadayet applied for political asylum in 1992, claiming he had been persecuted for his strong religious beliefs in his native Egypt.
The Times reported that those who have seen his immigration file say that in 1993 Hadayet admitted to the INS that he had been accused by the Egyptians of being a member of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group. The group, the Times explained is classified by the State Department as a terrorist organization which has claimed responsibility for acts of violence in Egypt and has demanded freedom for participants in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Hadayet also told the I.N.S. that he had signed a statement for the Egyptian police admitting his involvement with al-Gamaa al-Islamiya before coming to the United States, officials told the Times. But he told the INS that he was not a member of the terrorist group and had only signed a "false confession" under duress, one administration official told the Times. The official added that Hadayet insisted that his only true involvement was with a nonviolent mosque.
Despite the conflicting accounts, the INS "made no attempt" to determine whether Mr. Hadayet had any actual terrorist links, even as his asylum application remained pending for two and a half years, the official told the Times. He was denied asylum in late 1995, but his immigration file was filled with other "irregularities" even after that, officials said.
In 1995, INS prepared a document charging that Hadayet had overstaying his original visa, but the case was closed after he failed to show up for a hearing and the immigration service apparently could not find him.
Despite this infraction of INS rules Hadayet was still allowed to obtain a temporary work authorization in 1996, and he and his family earned permanent residency status the next year, after his wife won a federal visa lottery. Administration officials told the Times it was not clear whether the INS officials reviewing his residency status knew anything about the earlier allegations about his possible ties to the terror group.
The Times says that INS handling of the Hadayet case prompted Attorney General John Ashcroft to order the agency to conduct an investigation into possible links between asylum seekers and terrorist groups last week. Ashcroft directed the INS to review all existing asylum cases to determine whether possible terrorist links had gone unexamined, as in last week the Hadayet case. He also demanded that the agency find out whether any disciplinary action was taken against those involved in handling his case — and if not, why not, officials said, adding that Ashcroft was "furious" about this.
If this comes out, then all of us, including Mike Savage who knew this was a terrorist act, will be proven right.
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.