The following article appeared in LeoHoman.com on April 10th
By Leo Hohman
The number of mosques operating in
the United States has exploded by more than 150 percent since the terror
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to the point where more than 3,200
now operate in all 50 states.
Almost without fail, the imams in mainline
Sunni mosques are not Americans. They come from the Middle East and, to one
degree or another, would like to see America transformed into a society more
akin to the one they left.
They are on “hijra,” the Arabic term
for migration, just as their prophet Muhammad made hijra from Mecca to
Medina in the seventh century to spread his new religion and legal system.
While President Trump has talked
about gaps in our immigration system with regard to the border wall, the
refugee program, the diversity visa lottery and chain migration, he has yet to
say anything about what may be the most dangerous open gate of all for Islamic
radicals.
The “R” class of visas for so-called
religious workers apparently flies completely under the radar of the Trump
administration. Shockingly, the number of such visas issued grew during Trump’s
first year in office and was 3.7
percent higher than under President Obama’s final year.
The R-1 and R-2 visa programs are
operated as if on autopilot by career civil servants working deep within the
underbelly of the U.S. State Department. R-1 visas are issued to foreign
religious workers, which includes clerics and religious lay persons, while the
R-2 visas are given to their spouses and children. These visas carry a 30-month
term and can be renewed once for a total of five years. At the end of five years
many religious workers have established a work history that allows them to
obtain a green card offering permanent legal residency and a pathway to U.S.
citizenship.
The last time the government audited
the religious-visa program was in 2006 and 2009, and on both occasions it found
lots to be concerned about. Fraudulent applications ranged from 30 to 33
percent. [What Do You Do with A Visa Program with A
Fraud Rate of 30-33%?, by
David North, Center for Immigration Studies, Feb. 4, 2010]
The screening process is relatively
light for religious clerics. And there have been some high-profile terrorists
slip into the country this way.
Omar Abdul-Rahman, the so-called
blind Sheikh and mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing, entered
the U.S. from Egypt with an R-1 religious visa.
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Abdul-Rahman, the Blind Sheikh |
The FBI’s 2004 indictment against the
terrorist-fundraising Holy Land Foundation stated that the now defunct charity
was largely created by religious leaders who submitted falsified R-1 visa
applications on behalf of dozens of Arab immigrants. [Jihadis
using Religious Visa to Enter the US, Experts Warn, by Hollie
McKay, Fox News, March 14, 2017]
Muhammad Khalil, convicted in 2004,
ran a mosque in the basement of a Brooklyn store, from where he filed more than
200 fraudulent applications for fake religious jobs.
Khalil charged $8,000 per
application, submitting applications that used fabricated names, fake
occupations, non-existent universities and bogus religious training
certificates.
Congressman
takes lonely stand
But when did fraud and abuse ever
stop Congress from funding a popular program? Hence, the “R” visas keep rolling
off the printing presses at a rate of nearly 5,000 a year. Apparently, Congress
believes there is no reason to worry that the next big terror attack will be
inspired by a foreign-trained imam teaching in one of America’s more than 3,200
mosques.
(Article continues HERE)
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