ISIS Member Arrested in California

On Wednesday, August 15^th, Omar Abdulsatter Ameen was arrested in Sacramento, California for his alleged roll in the murder of a police officer in Iraq on behalf of ISIS in 2014. Ameen also has two other warrants out for his arrest in Iraq for violating counterterrorism laws in 2010 and 2017, and his extradition is pending on his upcoming extradition hearing.

A US judge issued a warrant for Omar’s arrest after receiving a request for extradition from the Iraqi government after an Iraqi investigation discovered Omar was responsible for the aforementioned murder. Omar was already being investigated by the FBI for filing fraudulent travel or immigration documents. A court document shows the FBI corroborating evidence found in the Iraqi investigation. Numerous people they had interviewed had not only claimed that he was an active member of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and later ISIS in his home town of Rawah since 2004, but that he was also close to a leading figure in AQI, his cousin Ghassan Amin.

Ameen was allowed entry into the United States after being admitted as a refugee. After Claiming that he and his family were victims of persecution from terrorists and lying about his ties to terror groups, he was granted refugee status and was in the process of attaining a green card.

To prevent more cases like Omar Ameen, congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act which included the much need Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 . Signed by President Obama, this law forces the Department of Homeland Security to conduct additional security screenings for travelers and immigrants coming from countries where terrorism and anti-terror security is an issue. It also allows for the president to issue the temporary suspension of visas from countries that the DHS has listed as “countries of concern”. Sudan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria were the first countries placed on the list in January 2016. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson later added Somalia, Libya, and Yemen to this list a month later.

It is important that the United States continues to aid those harmed by terrorists in countries like Iraq. Millions of people from various minority groups across the Middle East have had their lives destroyed in targeted efforts by Islamist forces. The United States will continue to fight those who commit these vile acts and prevent those who share in these atrocities from entering the country.