News From Boston: Naturalization Delayed Due to FBI Interview With Older Boston Marathon Bomber Suspect, Fears of Terrorist Ties

Julia Preston of the New York Times reports tha Department of Homeland Security officials delayed granting a naturalization petition for U.S. citizenship by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings, after a routine background check revealed that he had been interviewed in 2011 by the FBI. The FBI interviewed Tsarnaev in January 2011 at the request of the Russian government, which suspected that he had ties to Chechen terrorists. According to Preston, federal “officials pointed to the decision to hold up that application as evidence that his encounter with the F.B.I. did not fall through the cracks in the vast criminal and national security databases that the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. review as a standard requirement for citizenship. The application, which Mr. Tsarnaev presented on Sept. 5, also prompted `additional investigation’ of him this year by federal law enforcement agencies, according to the officials.”

Tamerian’s brother Dzhokhar naturalized and became a U.S. citizen last September.  The fact that the bombing suspects immigrated lawfully to this country has led some to question passage of the immigration reform proposal cuurently pending in the U.S. Senate.  Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky), for example, has called for a delay in the consideration of the reform proposal in a letter to Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid.  For a quick response to those who are using the Boston Marathon bombing as a reason to delay immigration reform, click here.

Senator Rand Paul

KJ