WASHINGTON –Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today sought information about the immigration history and status of Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, an Iraqi national living in the United States as a refugee. Ameen, an alleged member of Al Qaeda in Iraq and ISIS, was recently arrested in California.
“We need to better understand how someone with ties to terrorism and wanted for murder could possibly be granted refugee status and allowed to enter American communities. This disturbing case underscores the importance of thoroughly vetting refugees before granting admission to the United States. It’s difficult to judge what mistakes may have been made and what policy changes might be necessary to prevent it from happening again without more information,” Grassley said. “I’m grateful for the work of agents and officials at the FBI, the Justice Department and elsewhere who appropriately removed this potential threat, but I am concerned that an active member of two foreign terrorist organizations was able to conceal his past and slip into the United States undetected.”
In a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Grassley sought Ameen’s full immigration history, any security vetting documentation related to Ameen’s entry into the United States and Ameen’s visa application history, including any document created or uncovered in the course of the visa application process.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over immigration and naturalization law, as well as oversight authority of the Justice Department and FBI.
Full text of Grassley’s letter follows.
August 20, 2018
The Honorable Kirstjen Nielsen
Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, D.C. 20528
The Honorable Mike Pompeo
Secretary
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Secretary Nielsen and Secretary Pompeo:
The Department of Justice recently announced the arrest of Iraqi national, Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, an alleged member of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and ISIS who was granted refugee status and settled in Sacramento, California.[1] According to court documents, Ameen concealed his membership in and support for Al Qaeda and ISIS in Iraq on his refugee application, and recently sought lawful permanent residence status.[2] Additionally, the Committee has learned that in April of 2012, Ameen applied for refugee status in Turkey, yet returned to Iraq to engage in terrorist activities while his application was pending.
Since 2004, Ameen has been a member of both AQI and ISIS.[3] After Rawah, Iraq fell to the Islamic State in June 2014, Ameen allegedly joined an armed ISIS caravan that drove through the town to an Iraqi Police officer’s home where Ameen shot the officer in the chest, killing him. Reportedly, the FBI corroborated Ameen’s membership in and actions on behalf of AQI and ISIS due to an ongoing investigation that began in 2016.[4] According to witnesses interviewed by the FBI, it is common knowledge in Rawah, Iraq, that Ameen was a “main local figure of AQI and ISIS.”[5] Yet, Ameen was able to conceal this information from the United States and afforded protection here as a refugee in 2014. Years later, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force finally arrested Ameen in Sacramento, California.[6]
To better understand the circumstances surrounding Ameen’s application for refugee status and the national security implications for allowing a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization into the country as a refugee, please provide the following information no later than September 3, 2018:
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of State
I anticipate that your written reply and any responsive documents will be unclassified. Please send all unclassified material directly to the Committee. In keeping with the requirements of Executive Order 13526, if any of the responsive documents do contain classified information, please segregate all unclassified material within the classified documents, provide all unclassified information directly to the Committee, and provide a classified addendum to the Office of Senate Security. Although the Committee complies with all laws and regulations governing the handling of classified information, it is not bound, absent its prior agreement, by any handling restrictions or instructions on unclassified information unilaterally asserted by the Executive Branch.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you have any questions, please contact Aakash Singh or Katherine Nikas of my Committee staff at (202) 224-5225.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
cc:
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on the Judiciary
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