Refugees convicted of fraud, face deportation
Eleven years ago, two Iraqi brothers stranded at a refugee camp in Jordan made a fateful choice they thoughtwas reallynochoice at all.
Determined not to return to a country where they thought they would be killed, they obscured their relationship with a third brother, accused of terrorist ties, and ultimately linked to the kidnapping of aU.S. contractor and others in Iraq.
The brothers, with their wives and children, were allowed into the United States. Over the past decade, they built a life in Fairfax, Va., finding work and making friends, having picnics and visiting the zoo. Each brother has two children born in theUnited States.
Now, Yousif al-Mashhadani, 35, his brother, Adil Hasan, 39, andHasan’s wife, Enas Ibrahim, 32, have been convicted in federal court in Alexandria, Va., on fraud charges. With all three at risk of deportation, friends and supporters say a good family is being torn apart and are pushing for them to be allowed to remain in the country.
“Justice cries out for compassion in this case,” Marie Monsen, who worked with the refugees as a church volunteer, wrote in a letter to the court.
Federal prosecutors said they pursued the cases in hopes of catching Majid alMashhadani, who the government thinks was involved in the kidnapping and had been released from prison in Iraq after only a couple of years.
But authorities have given no indication that the three refugees have provided useful information about the crime orMajid alMashhadani’s whereabouts.
“I’m not sure how it accomplished anything,” Ibrahim’s attorney, Lana Manitta, said. “I don’t think they’re any closer to getting the answers they need.”
Judge Leonie Brinkema last month sentenced the brothers to only the three months they have spent in jail for their crimes, but acknowledged that they would be transferred to immigration custody.
“This is a tragic case,” she said in court. “But the lawis what it is.”
The brothers and their families fled Iraq in 2006, when sectarian violence in the countrywas at its height. When the family arrived in Jordan, Ibrahim was pregnant with her first child. She andhersister Rashad, Yousif al-Mashhadani’s wife, both hadtheir first childrenat the refugee camp.
While pleading guilty, Hasan explained his fear of being sent back to Iraq.
“I am Sunni, and I will be killed by the Sunnis because I was working in the Green Zone,” he said. “The Shiites will kill me because I am Sunni.”
Both brothersworked for a U.S.-supported anti-corruption agency in Iraq known at the time as the Commission on Public Integrity. Dozens of their coworkers were assassinated to keep investigations from coming to fruition.
In court, Hasan said he knew 56 people who had been killed. According to court filings, 65 members of the watchdog agency have been assassinated.
So, knowing their brother had been arrested and accused of involvement in terrorism, Hasan and al-Mashhadani hid their relationship. For good measure, they exaggerated the intensity of the threats they had faced forworking with Americans in Baghdad. And when they filled out their U.S. naturalization forms, they did not correct the errors.
Hasan has pleaded guilty to naturalization fraud, alMashhadani to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Both agreed to cooperate with immigration authorities.
Texas struggled through its driest year in history in 2011. Four years later was its wettest ever.
The Mississippi River rose to all-time-high flood levels in 2011. In 2012, its second-lowest.
After a six-year drought that made agricultural irrigation a political hot potato, Northern California experienced double the normal rainfall this year, beating the oldmark set in 1983.
As the planet warms, a less ballyhooed new normal is emerging in weather extremes.
With deluge following dust, the record book is becoming difficult to rely on for those who study the weather. The seesaw from one record to its opposite also has problematic implications for water management, storm preparedness and even national security.
“We might be wandering into an area where history might be a bystander,” said Mike Anderson, California’s state climatologist. “That getsalittle scarybecausehistory’s here to provide context.”
All of this is playing out as the Trump administration announced the country’s withdrawal from the Paris treaty, aimed at trying to slowclimate change.
“Hydrological extremes — floods and droughts— are the most dangerous aspects of global warming because they lead to food and water shortages and that can lead to armed conflict,” said Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric science professor at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnologyinCambridge.
The U.S. Department of Defense counts floods, droughts and high temperatures as climate-related security
Ibrahim admitted lying about herincometo secure a car loan two years ago, a charge that does not automatically trigger deportation proceedings. The families declined to comment for this story.
While in Virginia, the families lived a “spartan existence” so they would not rely on charity for too long, Monsen said.
When interviewed by FBI agents this year, Hasan described a life of fear in Iraq, telling them he was once shot at while driving to work and was detained for several hoursbymembersof a Shiite militia.
But while in Jordan applying for refugee status, the brothers fabricated a more elaborate tale in which Hasan was kidnapped for a month and their parents’ homewas set on fire.
Although they have admitted those lies and expressed regret, both brothers maintain that they know nothing about the actions or whereabouts of Majid alMashhadani, who according to prosecutors had admitted his involvement in the 2004 kidnapping of an American contractor and four others.
A paper with Yousif alMashhadani’s fingerprint on it was found in the farmhouse where the hostages were kept. But there is no evidence the print was left during the kidnapping and he has not been charged in connection with that crime.
Another brother, according to court filings, listed Majid al-Mashhadani on his immigration papers and is nowaU.S. citizen.
Roy Hallums, the contractor who was kidnapped and rescued10 months later, was unable to see or understand his captors.
But he is sure the brothers are lying now. “In the Middle East and in Iraq, everything is based on family,” Hallums said. “So I don’t believe for one second that these guys didn’t knowwhat was going on.”