Farooque Ahmed: Legal Immigrant, Suspected Terrorist, and H-1B

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2010/11/ ... -and-h-1b/

10 November 2010
Farooque Ahmed: Legal Immigrant, Suspected Terrorist, and H-1B
[Rob Sanchez] @ 11:14 am [Email author] [Email this article] [Print this article] [Print this article]

Examiner.com San Diego recently published an excellent article about the terrorist Farooque Ahmed, the suspected terrorist accused of plotting to cause maximum casualties on the Washington D.C. Metrorail.

Unfortunately the article gets off to a lousy start with headline that’s a complete misnomer: Illegal immigration and the new terrorism threat collide. [By Kimberly Dvorak, November 8 2010].But all indications are that Ahmed used the legal immigration system to penetrate the U.S.

Dvorak probably had no choice of headline; titles are written by editors. But it comes across as Politically Correct misdirection. Things like this happen because most MainStream Media people don’t understand that legal immigration is just as big a problem as the illegal kind.

Most likely Ahmed came to the U.S. on a student visa and was able to hold jobs by working with an Optional Practical Training (OPT) authorization. Eventually he got a green card which put him on a pathway to citizenship.

The uncertainty over Ahmed’s immigration status is caused largely because the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services won’t release that information. The USCIS even refused a request for the information by Senator Grassley (R-IO)! Now Grassley is demanding that Janet Napolitano at the Department of Homeland Security release the immigration history and basis for naturalization of Farooque Ahmed.

Farooque Ahmed’s immigration status has been covered up and there is a potential for a major constitutional confrontation if Napolitano doesn’t cooperate. Grassley wrote a strong warning to Napolitano:

I also want to bring to your attention the fact that my staff informally asked the Office of Legislative Affairs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for this information on November 1, 2010. My staff was informed that the Department of Homeland Security would not provide this information to a member of Congress without first obtaining a privacy release from the suspected terrorist in custody first. This response is unacceptable as a matter of accountability and is in clear conflict with the plain language of the Privacy Act exemption for members of Congress.

(Grassley seeks information about immigration channels used by suspected terrorist as a matter of public accountability, Press Release by Charles E. Grassley, United States Senator, November 4, 2010)

Ahmed’s immigration status seems to be eerily similar to that of the Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. To find out how Shahzad used student visas, H-1B, OPT, and green cards there is no better paper written than the one at the Center for Immigration Studies by Jessica Vaughan, May 2010: Faisal Shahzad: So Easy, Anyone Can Do It.

The Examiner.com article featured Gene Nelson, Ph.D. who explained why terrorists like Ahmed are being allowed into the United States:

“The lack of vetting of imported technical professionals under work visa programs such as H-1B is causing national security harms. I have discussed this problem in testimony delivered in the U.S. House of Representatives and the National Academy of Sciences since 1996,â€