Terrorist suspect, visa scammer deported to Kosovo
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) handed a terrorist suspect and convicted visa scammer to Kosovan authorities Wednesday.
Brahim Lajiq, 55, entered the United States through Mexico at an unknown time. The FBI began an investigation on him in June 2010 for making threats to “slaughter people” if he was not issued a green card, and for stating he and his brothers are engaged in jihad. Additionally, he discussed blowing up the Arlington Immigration Court, and he has expressed interest in possible attacks on the U.S. Capital building.
ICE and the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested him in August 2010 for visa fraud, falsely stating on an adjustment application that he had been granted asylum, and lying to law enforcement officials when he said his mother was in the United States when she signed his immigration documents.
“Our country will not be a sanctuary for criminal aliens,” said Tom Decker, ERO Philadelphia field office director. “ICE will continue to focus its enforcement operations on identifying, arresting and removing dangerous criminals who pose the greatest risk to our communities.”
On Feb. 28, 2011, a federal district judge in Greenbelt, Maryland, sentenced Lajiq to five years in prison for his guilty plea to a count of visa fraud. The judge found a variance on the sentencing guidelines given the evidence of Lajiq’s repeated and consistent statements concerning his desire to bomb several Washington D.C. landmarks.
ERO Philadelphia took Lajiq into custody from the Bureau of Prisons in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, and returned him to his native country May 6.
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