DHS knew Ohio State Attacker was a Terror Risk

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton | December 16, 2016 9:32 am

Remember how Obama and DHS[1] went on and on and on about how they thoroughly vet each refugee? Just as we thought… not so much. Turns out that the refugee who was a student at Ohio State University that went on a knife Jihad there, wounding numerous students before a police officer took him down with a gun, was also a possible recruitment target for al-Shabaab. DHS knew it and let him in anyway. Nice, huh? So much for vetting. They don’t care if they are a terrorist wannabe or even an actual terrorist, they are just letting them in. Trump is about to put a stop to that hopefully.

Knowing that this young man was already on the radical Jihadist to-do list, should have caused DHS to investigate further, but they didn’t. Artan’s family spent time in a Pakistani refugee camp before entering the United States. They didn’t look into that either. After the attack at Ohio State University, ISIS claimed credit for it. Considering the kid’s background and connections, no one should be surprised by this. I doubt DHS was. We were just fortunate there was an officer there that took him out before he actually killed anyone. He was certainly trying to in the name of Allah.

Abdul Razak Artan, a third-year student in logistics management, sits on the Oval in an August 2016 photo provided by The Lantern, student newspaper of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Courtesy of Kevin Stankiewicz for The Lantern/Handout via REUTERS[2]

Abdul Razak Artan, a third-year student in logistics management, sits on the Oval in an August 2016 photo provided by The Lantern, student newspaper of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Courtesy of Kevin Stankiewicz for The Lantern/Handout via REUTERS

From The Daily Caller:

Department of Homeland Security officials knew Ohio State University attacker Abdul Razak Ali Artan was a possible recruitment target of Islamic terrorists but granted him asylum anyway, along with his mother and six of his siblings, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley revealed in a letter sent Wednesday to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

While seeking asylum as refugees from Mogadishu, Somalia in 2013, Artan’s mother told immigration authorities that she feared persecution from al-Qaeda affiliate group al-Shabaab, and worried that Abdul and his siblings would be recruited by the terrorist organization if they remained in Somalia.

That knowledge should have lead USCIS officials to “conduct additional questioning better understand ties to a group that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.” But the additional questioning, which the Committee describes as “common practice” in those situations, never happened.

Artan’s father, according to the letter, had been kidnapped by the terrorist group. According to the Committee, one of Abdul’s siblings did not travel to America with the rest of the family, for reasons left unclear.

Chuck Grassley was incensed by this revelation and he wrote a letter to USCIS over it: “This information should have caused the asylum officer to conduct additional questioning of the older children to better understand ties to a group that the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008. Further questioning could have eliminated the possibility that the asylees had dubious ties to the terrorist group and could have allowed for more robust vetting and data collection. However, although common practice in these cases, no additional questioning was conducted.” Someone either messed up or was ordered not to do further vetting.

A press release from Grassley’s office[3] concludess, “government forms used in the 2013 vetting interview appear to be from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was replaced by the Department of Homeland Security in 2002. It’s unclear whether the forms used in the interview excluded certain fields that may have been required in the 2013 version of the forms, leading to an incomplete review.” He’s asking USCIS for further documentation from the interview conducted with Artan’s mother and siblings and with good reason. Someone’s head will figuratively roll over this one. But it is probably widespread and common for the Obama Administration to have done this. Again… let’s hope and pray that President-elect Trump rectifies this situtation and soon before anyone else gets killed.

A girl is led to an ambulance by emergency personnel following an attack at Ohio State University’s campus in Columbus, Ohio, U.S. November 28, 2016. Courtesy of Colin Hass-Hill/thelantern.com/Handout via REUTERS[4]

A girl is led to an ambulance by emergency personnel following an attack at Ohio State University’s campus in Columbus, Ohio, U.S. November 28, 2016. Courtesy of Colin Hass-Hill/thelantern.com/Handout via REUTERS

Endnotes:
  1. Remember how Obama and DHS: http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/15/dhs-knew-osu-attacker-was-terror-recruitment-target-let-him-into-the-u-s-anyway/
  2. [Image]: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Terror.jpg
  3. Grassley’s office: http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/refugee-vetting-ohio-state-attacker-missed-signs-possible-link-terrorism
  4. [Image]: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Terror1-e1481898744397.jpg

Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/terrorism/dhs-knew-ohio-state-attacker-terror-risk/