Cox News Service
The Egyptian who killed two people in Los Angeles Airport last July 4th had slipped through a series of cracks in the U.S. immigration system, records and congressional testimony revealed Wednesday.
Hesham Mohamed Ali Hedayet, who arrived on a visitor's visa a decade ago and never left, raised suspicions seven years ago when he sought U.S. asylum from what he said was political persecution in Egypt.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service wrote Hedayet that the INS had "serious" credibility questions about his claim that he had been falsely accused of being in a violent Egyptian group called al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya.
In the letter rejecting his asylum request in October 1995, an INS asylum officer cited "inconsistencies" in Hedayet's claims and said they were "suggestive of concealment and call into question your assertion that all you wish for the government of Egypt is that it be overthrown by peaceful means."
Despite those qualms, neither the immigration service nor other federal agencies investigated further, said William Yates, a senior INS official said Wednesday.
Posted by Suzanne at October 11, 2002