No worries, they all drive cabs. Or they're bricklayers. Perhaps they teach math and science at the local schools. Honorable folks every one.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."
Eyre indicated in his testimony that authorities are trying to determine whether any of the Somalis are associated with Al-Shabaab.
Nah, can't be, they're all economists. Or work at the local nursing home as assistants. Perhaps they're farmers.
In a court filing, Linehan said agents and prosecutors have "issued numerous subpoenas, reviewed Department of Homeland Security records, and conducted witness interviews throughout the United States, as well as in Australia and Africa."
According to court documents, Tracy helped the Somalis move to the United States by getting them travel visas to Cuba through contacts he had at the Cuban Embassy in Kenya. Tracy's attorney declined comment for this story.
The Somalis are believed to have entered the United States through the border with Mexico after making a circuitous trip from Kenya to Dubai to Moscow to Cuba to South America then to Mexico and northward, Eyre testified.
In March, federal prosecutors requested an extra month to indict Tracy because of investigation delays caused by the February snowstorms that battered Washington. Even with the indictment now in hand, Brinkema said the government's case could be "shaky" without authorities locating the Somalis.
Tracy has been held without bail and his case has been scheduled for trial on May 17.