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Lawyer: Egyptian Student Made An Innocent Mistake
wcco-tv - Bloomington, MN ^ | Aug 15, 2006 10:35 pm US/Central | Lisa Kiava

Posted on 08/16/2006 1:12:51 AM PDT by Rte66

(WCCO) Bloomington, Minn. For the first time today, we heard from the Egyptian foreign exchange student arrested in Minneapolis.

Eslam El-Dessouki is one of eleven young men authorities picked up after entering the country on student visas, but never showing up at school.

In a Bloomington, Minn. immigration courtroom, a judge asked the student some very tough questions.

Several times, the Egyptian student was asked, "Why didn't you go to Montana State as required by your student visa?"

El-Dessouki said, "It was the first time out of my country, I just think to visit my uncle... I didn't know if I didn't attend school it would be a crime."

(Excerpt) Read more at wcco.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; US: Minnesota; US: Montana
KEYWORDS: aliens; egyptian; egyptians; egyptianstudents; jihadinamerica; minnesota; missingstudents; montana; students
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[cont.]

El-Dessouki’s attorney said it was an innocent mistake.

"I think he meant well," immigration attorney Herbert Igbanugo said. "He didn’t understand the law. His uncles actually didn't understand the law because they gave him some bad advice."

Igbanugo explained that the student’s uncles live in Minneapolis. They thought that he could transfer to a different school on his visa instead of attending Montana State University where he had already been accepted.

Earlier in August, when the 17 Egyptian students landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport, they said they got separated during customs inspections. El-Dessouki said he then couldn't find his gate and he missed his Montana flight.

"I think the story about what happened at the airport is extremely questionable," Judge Joseph Dierkes said. "I mean, he had a ticket to go to Montana."

After missing his flight, El-Dessouki hopped a Greyhound from New York to Minneapolis and stayed with his uncle.

Igbanugo said the student didn’t know he was wanted by the FBI the situation sure looked bad at the time.

El-Dessouki visited the U and applied later applied for an official Minnesota state identification card.

He told the judge that's proof he wasn't hiding out.

The judge granted El-Dessouki a bond of $1,700. So even though a nationwide manhunt put him behind bars, he could have been released and returned to Minneapolis Wednesday.

That didn't happen. Immigration officials took steps to keep him in jail.

Igbanugo said since this is a highly-publicized, officials want to keep him in jail even though officials have said none of the students was a direct threat. But the immigration official at the court hearing complained the case was a distraction since FBI had to round up all the missing students at a time when agents wanted to focus on heightened homeland security concerns.

Igbanugo predicted the U.S will probably move to have his client sent back to Egypt in the coming weeks.

1 posted on 08/16/2006 1:12:53 AM PDT by Rte66
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To: All

"My first time out of my country" ... but I hopped a Greyhound from New York City to Minneapolis.

Oh-kay.


2 posted on 08/16/2006 1:15:56 AM PDT by Rte66
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To: Rte66

One or Two deciding not to report to their school would be suspicious enough.. but Eleven taking off for different parts of the country is very odd.


3 posted on 08/16/2006 1:20:57 AM PDT by divine_moment_of_facts ("Liberals see what they believe... Conservatives believe what they see")
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To: Rte66
I think all student visa's from Islamic nations should be voided and all their students sent home.

Most of the 9/11 hijackers were on student visas.

4 posted on 08/16/2006 1:21:55 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? (Gal.4:16))
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To: Rte66

None are believed to pose a terrorist or criminal threat, per ICE. I think they were sent to probe security. Just send them all back to Cairo. Innocent mistake huh? Ignorance of the law is not a excuse.


5 posted on 08/16/2006 1:25:07 AM PDT by hamboy
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To: Rte66
That excuse is highly suspect, IMHO. How did this jerk make his way to a bus terminal, but he couldn't find an airline gate? This dumba$s is definitely NOT college material. Also, you cannot tell me that these "students" were not told explicitly what they could and could not do with a student visa. That has ALWAYS been policy. They KNOW what they are allowed to do, now, whether they do it or not is up to them.
6 posted on 08/16/2006 1:37:14 AM PDT by singfreedom ("Victory at all costs,.......for without victory there is no survival."--Churchill--that's "Winston")
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To: hamboy

But you see...Islam has a different set of laws. Of course it isn't a crime.


7 posted on 08/16/2006 1:39:49 AM PDT by Dallas59 (I HAVE A TRACFONE!!!)
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To: singfreedom

or, having missed the flight, why couldn't the next flight out be taken.


8 posted on 08/16/2006 1:42:45 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: Rte66

I'll be generous and assume he is not the sharpest tack in the box.


9 posted on 08/16/2006 1:45:12 AM PDT by youngandgungho (If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything)
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Ah, come on guys, give Eslam a break....

He REALLY did only want to merely transfer to a different school.....




Flying School.....




One that skipped those boring bits at the begining and ending of a flight.... Just the fun bit there in the middle.


10 posted on 08/16/2006 1:46:49 AM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: Rte66

Send the 11, plus ALL muslim-islamic-arab students back to the turd-world hellholes they came from. This insanity has to stop. We have hundreds of thousands of muslim-islamic-arab terrorists already here, waiting for 'their turn'. Whether it's gathering intel, probing security or conducting 'dry-runs', we're nuts for allowing this crap to take place!


11 posted on 08/16/2006 1:47:20 AM PDT by butternut_squash_bisque (The recipe's at my FR HomePage. Try it!)
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To: Rte66

Yeah, yeah, that's the ticker. 11 foreign students come to study at a particular school, but don't show up for classes at all. Who in his right mind would believe this cock and bull story for even a second?


12 posted on 08/16/2006 1:48:49 AM PDT by Seeing More Clearly Now
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To: youngandgungho

Come to think of it, he *was* the first one caught, lol!


13 posted on 08/16/2006 1:49:01 AM PDT by Rte66
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To: singfreedom
They all had to sign papers, in Egypt, that they wouldn't try to seek jobs here and a lot of other things like this.

This was only a 4 week summer course. The 11 who went this way and that and anywhere BUT to the college they were supposed to go to, have all been expelled from their school back home. Once they get back home, their lives will be over. Their parents paid thousands of dollars to send then here and some of the parents, who have been interviewed, thought it was perfectly okay to spend that kind of money to get the kid into the USA, so that he could work. They KNEW what was going to happen, once the boys got here and it wasn't going to college for 4 weeks in Montana.

14 posted on 08/16/2006 1:49:51 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: butternut_squash_bisque

Why has this handful of Egyptians raised such a visible fuss, when there are many other would-be foreign students that decide to sightsee instead and the public does not hear about it. Some kind of dirt about Egypt must have turned up.


15 posted on 08/16/2006 1:50:37 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: hamboy

Agree 100%. Yes, a probe.

All student visas from Muslim countries should be revoked and none issued for the forseeable future, no offense intended of course. It's insanity to let these people into this country.


16 posted on 08/16/2006 1:51:09 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
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To: nopardons
so that he could work

At what sort of job that would make the initial investment worthwhile?

17 posted on 08/16/2006 1:52:36 AM PDT by The Red Zone
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To: The Red Zone
Any job would pay more than what the kid would have made in Egypt, after he graduated from college, if he could even get a job. And THAT is the point.
18 posted on 08/16/2006 1:55:00 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: youngandgungho

No offense, but if you think this guy is just dumb, well, it makes you not exactly the sharpest tack. I'll be generous and just chalk it up to your being young and gung ho. :>


19 posted on 08/16/2006 1:56:23 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
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To: butternut_squash_bisque

Agree 100%. STOP THE INSANITY!!


20 posted on 08/16/2006 1:57:15 AM PDT by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
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