Posted on 10/18/2001 4:29:41 PM PDT by sarcasm
Authorities are investigating the legitimacy of the marriage of material witness Yazeed Al-Salmi to a La Mesa woman the day after the terrorist attacks, FBI sources said.
A marriage certificate indicates Al-Salmi, 23, a Grossmont College student from Saudi Arabia, wed Jacquelyn Lee Fisher, 27, a caregiver born in California, in a civil ceremony Sept. 12 in El Cajon.
Whether Al-Salmi's marriage -- which took place 11 days before he was arrested by the FBI and transferred to a New York jail -- is relevant to the terror investigation is unclear.
Al-Salmi was held for 17 days and released Oct. 9 after testifying twice before a federal grand jury. He was not charged with a crime.
He has acknowledged living briefly at the same boardinghouse as San Diego-linked hijacker Nawaf Alhazmi, but said he was unaware of Alhazmi's plan to crash a jet into the Pentagon.
Al-Salmi entered the United States on a two-year student visa that expires in July 2002. Marrying a U.S. citizen would allow him to apply for permanent residency and, eventually, citizenship.
The marriage certificate says the couple live together at an apartment building on Lemon Circle in La Mesa. The FBI recently visited the complex, asking questions of Fisher and her neighbors.
Fisher, contacted yesterday at the apartment, said the marriage is not a sham.
"He's my husband. I don't have nothing to say," Fisher said. "I'm moving and we're getting a place. I married him because I love him, and I'm not divorcing him because everyone thinks he's a terrorist."
Fisher referred further questions to Al-Salmi, but would not say where he is. Al-Salmi could not be reached for comment.
A manager and neighbors at the apartment complex said Fisher has not mentioned her marriage and that they have never seen or heard of Al-Salmi, who listed the complex as his address on the marriage license.
During an interview in New York after his release last week, Al-Salmi said he lived with male roommates at an apartment on Saranac Street in La Mesa until his arrest. He also said he had been evicted because of his arrest and had nowhere to live in San Diego.
Al-Salmi's attorney, Randall Hamud, said yesterday he was unaware that his client was married, but added that his marital status has nothing to do with the terrorist attacks.
"It's not relevant to anything," Hamud said. "A lot of people might have got married on Sept. 12; a lot might have been Arabs. It doesn't mean a thing.
"During his interviews there have never been any questions about marriage. It never came up. The issue was any interactions he might have had with Nawaf (Alhazmi) and those people, not his private life."
Hamud is in New York trying to secure the release of two other material witnesses, including one who was a roommate of Al-Salmi's on Saranac Street.
Fisher's apartment manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Fisher lived at the apartment for about six months with a boyfriend named James, but that the two were splitting up and moving out at the end of the month. They argued frequently and loudly in the one-bedroom, $725-a-month apartment, the manager said.
"That's beyond strange," the manager said of the marriage. "I just saw her Friday and she didn't mention getting married.
"She doesn't make an awful lot of money. If he offered her money I could see her doing it out of desperation."
The manager said Fisher indicated she is moving to another apartment with a female friend, and the manager provided Fisher with a reference.
When asked why Al-Salmi would say he had no place to live upon his return to San Diego, Fisher said her husband "didn't know I got a place." And when asked about the female roommate, Fisher said, "She's coming with us."
The manager compared Fisher's signature on rental documents to the signature on the marriage certificate. They matched, as did the birth dates.
Deputy Marriage Commissioner Cicely Suarez, whose name appears on the marriage certificate, said she performs so many ceremonies that she does not remember that of Al-Salmi and Fisher. But theirs was likely the standard five-minute exchange of vows in the "ceremony room" of a county building at 200 S. Magnolia Ave. in El Cajon.
Couples need not make plans in advance; they are only required to show up during business hours with a valid, government-issued photo identification card, $100 and a divorce decree, if applicable. The ID doesn't have to be American.
If they don't bring their own witness, one is provided. In Al-Salmi's case, the witness was someone listing the address of a Texaco gas station on Spring Street near University Avenue.
The signature on the marriage certificate was illegible. One of the San Diego-linked hijackers and several material witnesses once worked at the gas station.
During the interview with the Union-Tribune in New York, Al-Salmi said he hopes to remain in the United States. He said he wants to continue his studies at Grossmont and may eventually seek U.S. citizenship. He has applied for the spring semester at San Diego State University, according to a spokesman.
Whether he has applied for permanent residency could not be immediately determined.
The foreign spouse must complete an application, and after doing so can remain in the country, and work, as a permanent resident applicant. Within about 19 months, the couple will be interviewed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said spokeswoman Lauren Mack.
If the foreign spouse passes the interview, a medical evaluation and a criminal record check, he or she will be issued a green card. If the couple has not been married for more than two years, the green card will be conditional.
This conditional status is equal to permanent residency in all respects and benefits except that it is subject to termination within two years if the couple annuls, divorces, or if the INS determines the marriage was merely a means for the foreign spouse to obtain permanent residency.
WASHINGTON -- Americans should not be branding immigrants as terrorists in their zeal to fight the nation's new war, the administration's chief immigration official told a Senate panel Wednesday.
"The issue we're facing in this country is not an issue about immigration," said James Ziglar, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "It's an issue about evil. Immigrants are not terrorists."
Ziglar, who spoke to the Senate subcommittee on immigration, cautioned lawmakers that the hijackers entered the United States on nonimmigrant visitor visas, not as immigrants intending to make the country their home.
The INS chief found a willing audience for his comments in both committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, and ranking Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas.
"We can protect our nation's security," Kennedy said, "without undermining our history and heritage as a nation of immigrants."
Unlike last week's hearing before Sen. Dianne Feinstein's terrorism subcommittee, in which the nation's visa system and INS' ability to manage its systems were questioned, Wednesday's session revolved around ways to add resources and personnel to the INS so it can do its job.
Ziglar said that, while there are 500 million entries and exits from the United States each year, his agency has fewer than 5,000 inspectors to process these visitors and about 2,000 investigators and intelligence agents to deal with those who have overstayed their visas or violated their immigration status.
Across the Capitol, the House immigration panel was reviewing the INS structure.
Ziglar is expected to propose as early as next week a plan to separate the functions but maintain a single agency. But House Judiciary Committee leaders have made it clear that they want to see the agency broken into two separate entities. They plan to introduce a bill by year's end.
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