No need to panic but… There are 300 Somalis roaming free in the US who were smuggled into the country by a Virginia man linked to an Al-Qaeda terror group based in Somalia.
The Washington Examiner reported:
Federal authorities say they’re certain nearly 300 Somalis allegedly smuggled into the United States by a Virginia man who admitted contacts with an Islamic terrorist group are in the country, but they can’t find them despite a worldwide search for leads.
The search, first reported by the Washington Examiner, started in early February after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Anthony Joseph Tracy on charges that he helped smuggle the Somalis into the United States from Kenya. The 35-year-old has since been indicted on charges of conspiring with Cuban Embassy officials in Kenya to help the Somalis illegally enter the United States. ICE Agent Thomas Eyre has testified that authorities are “concerned” about the contact Tracy admitted having with the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda ally.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema questioned Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanine Linehan about the status of the government’s search for the illegal immigrants.
“We have not identified anyone,” Linehan said. “We believe all the individuals are present in the United States. But by the virtue of [Tracy's] successful smuggling scheme, we are having difficulty finding them.”
Hat Tip Infidel Joe
Anthony Joseph Tracy converted to Islam while in prison.
Reuters reported:
Authorities did not state in the court documents how many Somalis may have entered the United States with Tracy’s help.
While prosecutors portrayed Tracy as a young man who converted to Islam while in a U.S. prison in the 1990s, his lawyer said in a court document that he simply was a 35-year-old American citizen with a wife and five children, and that he “has every intention to remain here and contest these charges.”
In Minnesota, U.S. authorities have charged 14 people with recruiting, training or financing travel for young Somali immigrants to travel to Africa to fight for al-Shabaab.