Thursday November 26, 2015
By Kerry Picket
Refugees and migrants board the Turkish Coast Guard Search and Rescue ship Umut-703, off the shores of Canakkale, Turkey, after a failed attempt at crossing to the Greek island of Lesbos, Nov. 9, 2015. (REUTERS/Umit Bektas)
U.S. government officials implicated at least 12 refugees in terrorist cases this year, Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said in a press release Tuesday.
One examples cited by Sessions’ office is Liban Haji Mohamed, a native of Somalia who was arrested for allegedly providing material support to the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate.
According to the Justice Department, “sources indicate [that Mohamed] came to the United States as a refugee” before becoming a naturalized citizen.
At the time, Carl Ghattas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. Field Office stressed the importance of locating Mohammed, “because he has knowledge of the Washington, D.C. area’s infrastructure such as shopping areas, Metro, airports, and government buildings. … This makes him an asset to his terrorist associates who might plot attacks on U.S. soil.”