A recent report revealed the arrest of an Iraqi refugee with connections to ISIS.
Omar Ameen, 45, was arrested in Sacramento on a warrant for killing an Iraqi police officer while fighting on behalf of the Islamic State terror organization, AP News reported Wednesday.
Court documents allege that Ameen and other ISIS members killed the police officer when ISIS took over the town of Rawah, Iraq in 2014.
An absolutely insane arrest from DOJ: An Iraqi ISIS member who killed civilians during 2014 takeover of MOSUL came to the US as a refugee and even applied for green card status in California. He is now being extradited to Iraq to face charges of murder pic.twitter.com/MdImieEVes
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) August 15, 2018
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force carried out the arrest based on an Iraqi federal court warrant issued in May. Ameen will be extradited to Iraq.
Ameen began living in Turkey in 2012 where he started applying for refugee status in the U.S. After claiming to be a victim of terrorism, the U.S. granted his request for refugee status in 2014. However, Ameen committed the killing before he left for the U.S. in November 2014.
The Trump Administration has been critical of the Obama-era refugee settlement program, as well as vetting practices, which elicits concerns about whether or not refugees can be properly vetted before entering the U.S.
After settling in Sacramento, Ameen applied for a green card, all while maintaining a secret membership in two terror groups, officials said.
Since 2016, Ameen was under investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force over fraudulent travel or immigration documents.
The FBI confirmed his involvement in terror groups, and the Iraqi police officer’s murder. A witness to the murder also identified Ameen from photos of ISIS members. Eight other witnesses confirmed that Ameen and his family maintain affiliations with Al Qaeda and ISIS.
Iraqi documents say he may face execution in Iraq for the “organized killing by an armed group.”
The Iraqi documents allege that Ameen was part of a four-vehicle caravan of ISIS members that drove to the home of Rawah police officer Ihsan Abdulhafiz Jasim. Ameen and five other suspects opened fire on the police officer, who shot back, but Ameen fired the fatal bullet in the officer’s chest.
ISIS posted on social media claiming responsibility for the murder.
The documents also allege that Ameen aided Al Qaeda and ISIS in “helping plant improvised bombs, transporting militants, soliciting funds and robbing supply trucks and kidnapping drivers.”
One of Ameen’s attorneys, Benjamin Galloway, said he only met with Ameen for 10 minutes before his first court appearance on Wednesday, and the defense team had not decided whether they would challenge that Ameen was the same man wanted for the killing.
At his court appearance, Ameen was dressed in plain clothes with his hands cuffed to a chain around his waist. His next court appearance is scheduled for Monday. He will remain detained according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund Brennan’s orders, who determined Ameen to be a dangerous individual and a flight risk.
