HOUSTON — Two refugees from Iraq were arrested on terrorism-related charges on Thursday in California and Texas, where the governor called for an end to the resettlement of refugees from countries overrun by terrorist groups.
Both suspects are Palestinians born in Iraq who arrived in the United States as refugees and have been accused of ties to jihadi terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State, according to law enforcement officials.
Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, was arrested in Houston and charged with three counts of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, according to a statement from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.
In California, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, was charged with traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist groups, including Ansar al-Islam, and lying about his actions to the immigration authorities, according to a statement from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California.
Prosecutors said that al-Jayab entered the United States from Syria as a refugee in October 2012, living in Arizona and Wisconsin before settling in Sacramento, California. Hardan, who lives in Houston, entered the U.S. as a refugee in 2009 and was granted legal permanent residence status in 2011, according to law enforcement. Both men were in custody Thursday night.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said in a statement that he believed the incident highlighted the risk of resettling refugees from "countries substantially controlled by terrorists."
He also urged President Barack Obama "to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans."
The prosecutor's office in Texas said there was no imminent threat to public safety associated with Hardan's arrest. He will have an initial court appearance on Friday.
Al-Jayab is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Sacramento on Friday.
The indictment accuses Hardan of attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State and lying on his application to become a U.S. citizen by stating that he was not associated with a terrorist organization and had never received weapons training.
Prosecutors said Thursday that Hardan has been associated with the Islamic State since 2014 and was trained to use automatic machine guns. He has been charged with one count each of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully, and making false statements, prosecutors said.
In California, the indictment accuses al-Jayab of discussing his experience fighting against the government of Syria, and planning to return to fight alongside terrorist groups, over social media in 2012 and 2013.
"O God, grant us martyrdom for your sake while engaged in fighting and not retreating; a martyrdom that would make you satisfied with us," al-Jayab wrote in one online exchange from April 2013, according to the indictment.
It said he wrote to an associate in another online exchange, "America will not isolate me from my Islamic duty. Only death will do us part. My only wish is to see you and start the action."
Prosecutors said that al-Jayab traveled from Chicago to Syria, by way of Turkey, on Nov. 9, 2013, and fought alongside terrorist groups, including Ansar al-Islam, until January 2014, posting about his experiences with the group on social media along the way. He returned to the United States on Jan. 23, 2014.
Al-Jayab was interviewed by officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Oct. 6, 2014, and lied when asked if he had ever been a member or provided material support to a terrorist group, prosecutors said. Al-Jayab also told the interviewers that his trip to Turkey in 2013 and 2014 was a visit to his grandmother.
The arrests come amid a debate fueled by recent terrorist attacks in Paris and California over whether refugees from countries where jihadi groups operate pose a threat to the United States.
Republican politicians, especially, have argued that they do. More than two dozen Republican governors vowed to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states after the Paris attacks in November, and several Republican presidential candidates expressed similar sentiments. Last month, one of them, Donald J. Trump, proposed barring the entry of all Muslims into the United States.
In December, Texas became the first state to sue the State Department in an attempt to keep out Syrian refugees, citing, in federal court documents, "reasonable concerns about the safety and security of the citizenry of the state of Texas regarding these refugees." Alabama on Thursday also sued the federal government over refugee resettlement.
Texas Republican leaders pointed to the arrest on Thursday as evidence that their attempts to bar the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the state were necessary.
"Based on the facts, as we know them, today's action may have prevented a catastrophic terror related event in the making and saved countless lives," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas said in a statement. "This is exactly what we have repeatedly told the Obama administration could happen and why we do not want refugees coming to Texas."
"There are serious questions about who these people really are, as evidenced by today's events," he added.