Posted on 08/11/2006 11:26:54 AM PDT by NoFoxholeAthiests
Six of the 11 Egyptian exchange students who recently entered the United States and failed to show up for their college program were in custody Thursday after three more were arrested, officials said.
Police arrested Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, 22, at O'Hare International Airport after he tried to check in for a Chicago-to-Montana flight using an invalid ticket marked for a New York departure, Chicago police said.
El Ela raised his voice and became unruly after an employee at a Delta ticket counter refused to let him exchange the ticket for a valid one, said Timothy J. Bolger, the Chicago police officer at the scene. "He was loud and causing people to be alarmed," Bolger said. The officer said El Ela calmed down when police arrived.
After federal officials confirmed El Ela was one of the students they were seeking, police turned him over to immigration agents, Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline said.
Two other students, El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed Ibrahim, 20, and Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali El Bahnasawi, 20, were arrested at a residence in Dundalk, Md., outside Baltimore, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the FBI said.
All are being held on administrative immigration violations because they did not report on time to their monthlong program at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont.
A group of 17 students, six of whom reported to Bozeman on time, arrived in New York on July 29. After Montana State repeatedly tried to contact the missing students, it notified Department of Homeland Security officials and registered the Egyptians as no-shows in a system developed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to track foreign students.
None of the students is considered a terrorism risk, and FBI officials stressed there are no ties between the Egyptians and the alleged terror plot broken up by British authorities.
The other five students were still being sought. Relatives in Egypt explained the students' failure to show up at Montana State by saying they probably wanted to find work in the United States.
"It must have been in his mind to stay where there are plenty of job opportunities," said Ibrahim el-Dessouki, the father of a student arrested Wednesday in Minnesota. "You know how much a dollar is worth here in Egypt."
He said he spoke to his son when he arrived in the United States but has not since.
My personal feeling is that this is a red herring. I have often heard of people who visit the US for the first time who have no idea of the size of this country. I read of a woman who planned to see the Statue of Liberty in the morning and then the Niagra Falls in the afternoon, and then see the Grand Canyon, (by car), the next day. I wouldn't be suprised if they simply got off of the plane in New York and thought they could rent a car and drive to Montana and sightsee on the way. Then this guy got tired or realized how much driving was involved and tried to fly the rest of the way from Chicago on his New York to Montana ticket.
My company just lost a fantstic job candidate from Asia because he could not maintain his visitor status into next year, and we are allowing hoards for islamic terrorists into our country on student visas. Brilliant!
Finally someone took a more pro-active approach in doing their job. The guy that called DHS should get a recognition award of some sort.... Maybe a letter from W.
And if their visa expires, zap. They're sterilized.
but 11 of them, and all in different locations?
I'm not exactly sure, but common sense dictates that eleven foreign nationals of middle-eastern origin wandering the countryside at their leisure could present a problem.
Also this would not be an unusual for someone to think who was accustomed to railroad tickets as the main way of getting around.
"None of the students is considered a terrorism risk..."
There's your problem.
Cash or no cash, they want to bring them in so that we can get to understand them better.
Now that's a really good idea. Too bad it will never be implemented. How can we possibly be allowed to I.D. and track people visiting in this country when we aren't allowed to even ask for an I.D. at the Polls.
Get in touch with Harvard or Yale - I'm sure they'll want to give these nice kids full-free-ride scholarships.
I'll bet we are underwriting their educational visits.
Unnecessary violence IS authorized.
That is all.
Honestly, it's too bad all terrorists aren't this stupid...how long did they think it would take for the people at Montana State to notice they hadn't arrived.
Good hunting!!!
They should of had the crap beat out of them American style.
I was here on a student visa for 8 years (MS, PhD)and the only "job" I was authorized to have was babysitting. And probably the reason for that was that the families paid cash, no records, no taxes!
Let's see...They spent two grand on the class. Heaven knows what on airfare. Since they're on the DHS's excrement list, any kind of job they might've been able to get while on it wouldn't have paid too well... Oh, I buy the job explanation.
NOT.
The rules gave them 32 days. It's only because the folks at the university have a good head on their shoulders, collectively speaking, that the students' no-shows were reported so quickly.
(where they just caught those Mooselimbs with all those phones and 11K and airline stuff.)
Maybe because Mohamed Mohamed was singing, Dirka, Dirka Mohamed Jihad and feared running into a Marine.
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