Terrorism, Immigration, and the Media

Terrorism: Get the Facts, not from the Media

But the press has been a growing concern of mine (as it should be for every freedom loving person) and in light of recent reports, I it’s time to consider a few things. In a two part series, we are going to examine what both the government and media have buried and what information they have chosen to omit from their reports—all in what appear to be a coordinated effort to dupe American and European citizens.

Former Democratic pollster and analyst Pat Caddell has gone on record saying, “I think we’re at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy.” Caddell noted that while First Amendment protections were originally provided to the press so they would protect the liberty and freedom of the public from “organized governmental power,” over the past 25 years, the media have clearly relinquished the role of impartial news providers.

In the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and the ensuing debates over Syrian immigrants, I wonder what opinions people would hold if they had all the facts.

A few weeks ago, we wrote about the OODA loop and examined the partially foiled attack perpetrated by a Muslim student at UC Merced as an example. In our report, there was no mention of a terrorist affiliation or plot—but rather a disturbed student intent upon murder—who was thwarted by the aggressive action of a construction worker.

This piece was well researched and I (incorrectly) assumed it was representative of the facts. (Terrorism was not the focus of the article.) But in the weeks since the attack perpetrated by Faisal Mohammad, details have been leaked from the manifesto found on his body. As you may recall, some details of the manifesto were released—just not the ones that pointed to a fundamental Islamist engaging in an act of terror. As it turns out, Mohammad carried in his pack a print out of the trademark ISIS flag. Also omitted from initial reports was his written plan to behead his victims, as well as his references to Allah. (Which is consistent with the items found in this backpack and on his person–an 8-10 inch knife, zip ties, etc.)

I listened to the press conference held by the Merced county sheriff (in the immediate aftermath) where he was emphatic in his claim that there was no link whatsoever to terrorism. He clearly would not have the authority to determine what details were released and what details were kept from the people in a case like this. Upon finding the manifesto, police most certainly would have called in the feds, at which point they controlled the flow of information and the sheriff just became the mouthpiece.

Having reported on this story, I felt a particular sense of betrayal–on my behalf and on yours. So I felt compelled to offer a more complete picture. But how often does this happen? And, we should all be asking ourselves, “Why?”.

You may be surprised to learn that hundreds of Muslim immigrants have already been charged and convicted of providing material support to terrorist organizations, or attempting to launch their own attacks here on U.S. soil. Wouldn’t you find that news worthy?

Below is a sampling of more than 20 cases of terrorist plots against the U.S. by Muslim immigrants that have received little to no national media coverage over the last two years. All of the terrorists and suspected terrorists noted below would have passed through the federal government’s “vetting” process for refugees, asylum seekers and other types of immigrants:

• An immigrant from Muslim-dominated Bangladesh, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, tried to incite people to travel to Somalia and conduct violent jihad against the United States. He was arrested in Texas in 2014.
• In July 2015, a Cuban immigrant inspired by Islamic extremists plotted to explode a backpack bomb filled with nails on a beach in Key West.
• An immigrant from Ghana, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, pledged allegiance to ISIS and plotted a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He attacked an FBI agent with a large kitchen knife while the agent was searching his home in June in Staten Island, New York. The search was connected in connection with an investigation stemming from the weekend arrest of Munther Omar Saleh, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS.
• An immigrant from Sudan living in northern Virginia, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, tried to join ISIS and wage jihad on its behalf after having been recruited online. He plead guilty in federal court in June 2015 to providing material support to ISIS and his “friend,” according to court records, is now a member of the Islamic State fighting force in Syria.
• A Muslim refugee couple from Bosnia, along with their five relatives living in Missouri, Illinois, and New York, were charged in February 2015 with sending money, supplies and smuggled arms to ISIS and other terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq.
• A Muslim immigrant from Yemen, who applied for and received U.S. citizenship, along with six other men living in Minnesota as members of refugee families, were charged in April 2015 with conspiracy to travel to Syria and to provide material support to ISIS.
• A Somali refugee with lawful permanent resident status, along with four other Somali nationals, were charged July 23, 2014, with leading an al-Shabaab terrorist fundraising conspiracy in the United States, with monthly payments directed to the Somali terrorist organization.
• A Kazakhstani immigrant with lawful permanent resident status conspired to purchase a machine gun to shoot FBI and other law enforcement agents if they prevented him from traveling to Syria to join ISIS. He and two others from Uzbekistan, both living in Brooklyn, were charged in February 2015 with providing material support of foreign terrorist organization.
• Two female immigrants, one from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen, one of whom applied for and received U.S. citizenship, allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS and pledged to explode a propane tank bomb on U.S. soil. They were arrested in April 2015 during an FBI undercover raid on their house in Queens, New York.
• A Uzbek man in Brooklyn allegedly encouraged other Uzbek nationals to wage jihad on behalf of ISIS, and raised money for the terror organization. The arrests were announced in February and April 2015.
• The Boston Bombers were invited in as asylum seekers. The younger brother applied for citizenship and was naturalized on Sept. 11, 2012. The older brother had a pending application for citizenship.
• A Moroccan Muslim who came to the U.S. on a student visa was arrested and charged in April 2014 with plotting to blow up a university and a federal courthouse.
• Six members of Minnesota’s Somali-American refugee community have recently been charged with trying to join ISIS. The Washington Times reported that “the effort [to resettle large groups of Somali refugees in Minnesota] is having the unintended consequence of creating an enclave of immigrants with high unemployment that is both stressing the state’s safety net and creating a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist terror groups.”
• An Uzbek refugee living in Boise, Idaho, was arrested in 2013 and charged with providing support to a terrorist organization, in the form of teaching terror recruits how to build bombs to blow up U.S. military installations. He was convicted in August 2015.
• A teenage American citizen living in York, South Carolina, whose family emigrated from Syria, was sentenced in April 2015 for plotting to support ISIS and rob a gun store to kill members of the American military.
• A Muslim immigrant from Syria living in Ohio, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was accused by federal prosecutors of planning to “go to a military base in Texas and kill three or four American soldiers execution style.”
• A college student, who came to America as a refugee from Somalia and later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, attempted to blow up a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Oregon. He was sentenced in October 2014 to 30 years in prison.
• An immigrant from Afghanistan, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, and a legal permanent resident from the Philippines, were convicted September 25, 2014, for trying to “join Al Qaeda and the Taliban in order to kill Americans.”
• An Iraqi immigrant, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested in May 2015 for lying to federal agents about pledging allegiance to ISIS and his travels to Syria.
• Two Pakistani-American brothers living in New York, who later applied for and received U.S citizenship, were sentenced in June 2015 to decades-long prison sentences for plotting to detonate a bomb in New York City.
• An immigrant from Muslim-dominated Yemen, who later applied for and received U.S. citizenship, was arrested in September 2014 in Rochester, New York, for allegedly trying to join ISIS. He was also charged with attempting to illegally buy firearms to try to shoot American military personnel.
• An immigrant brought here by his family from Kuwait at age 6, and who was later approved for U.S. citizenship, carried out the jihadist attack that recently killed four U.S. Marines and a sailor in Chattanooga on July 16, 2015, using an AK-47 semi-automatic weapon against unarmed military men.

Clearly the ‘vetting’ of immigrants cannot be exhaustive—even when they hail from a nation where records should exist. Why is the current administration claiming we have the sufficient information required to do thorough background checks? A number of government officials have spoken out recently, stating that there are no records to vet in the case of the Syrian refugees.

So who is coming to the U.S.? Let’s look at the EU statistics as a predictor for what the United States is poised to receive. Over 411,500 refugees/migrants have entered the European Union by sea – so far this year. These asylum seekers are overwhelmingly male—thought this is not generally reported. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, of all refugees arriving in Europe this year, 72% are male, 13% are women and 15% are children.* Why is this number so lop-sided? Would we even be having this debate if the asylum seekers were not men of fighting age, but rather mothers and young children?

The lesson here is somewhat of an extension of Chief Kirk’s article last week regarding secondary knowledge. Can you count on it? Hardly. Lastly, each man and woman must use common sense and approach this topic with healthy skepticism – researching and drawing conclusions based on what reliable information can be found–not what a pundit is telling you to think.

* Information about the gender of those arriving by land remains unavailable. Data for 2015 is not yet available.