Somalia-born Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud was only two years old when he immigrated with his parents and siblings to the United States. But years later as a 20-year-old, in 2013, he had fully radicalized as a violent Islamic jihadist and came up with a plan to apply for U.S. citizenship for use in terrorism.
USCIS security screeners that year did not uncover his well-developed extremism or plans in time to reject his application or prevent him from using the fresh American passport he secured with his new citizenship to fight overseas in Syria and to then return with a plot to murder American citizens, for which he was eventually convicted.
According to court records and media accounts much later, Mohamud’s mother brought him and three siblings into the United States in August 1993. The family – including Mohamud and his brother, Abdifatah Aden (“Aden”) – settled in Columbus, Ohio, as lawful permanent residents.
By the time Mohamud decided to apply for citizenship in 2013, both he and Aden were deeply committed to jihad, a later FBI counterterrorism investigation discovered. The brother, Aden, after graduating from Ohio State University, left the United States in May 2013 to fight with the al-Nusra Front in Syria, an al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group. In September of that year, Mohamud pledged to join him but first wanted to secure U.S. citizenship and a passport to facilitate travel and return to conduct a terror attack.
USCIS adjudicators in Ohio quickly approved his citizenship. In February 2014, Mohamud took the oath of citizenship at a naturalization ceremony. A week later, in accordance with his terrorist planning, Mohamud applied for the passport, which he received in March 2014. He also set about coordinating his journey with Aden, pledging to bring his brother $1,000, a communications device for the battlefield, and an internet-accessing device, a government sentencing memorandum stated. In the months before approving Mohamud’s application, USCIS adjudicators of his 2013 application did not notice, if they ever checked, Mohamud’s social media postings such as one directed at his brother overseas that read, in part:
“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Salam be on you and your blessed companions Al Mujahideen (Arabic for “religious war fighters”) I’m proud of you. ... Allha (Arabic for “God”) loves the simple soldier so be a simple soldier, even if that means that no one knows who you are. All praise is to Allah who has allowed my Brother to fight in his cause. Abdifatah please know that you are fulfilling a glorious act that many of us have failed in, know that everytime you shoot your rifle, you are that much closer to Jannah (Arabic for “heaven” or “paradise”) so shoot and be true to Allah inn Shaa Allah I conclude with a simple piece of advise (sic), be Patient and be Humble, make dua (aninvocation) to Allah to allow me to join you in the high ranks as a Mujahid (Arabic for a person who wages jihad or war) inn Shaa Allah remain, steadfast and think of Allah 24/7. WaSalam love Abdirhaman.”
Mohamud left for Syria in April 2014, using a purposefully deceptive roundabout air and ground route, and went into combat training with the al-Nusra Front. His brother Aden died in fighting in June, probably before they could reunite. While in the combat zone, Mohamud began plotting a terror attack on U.S. soil, predicated on his return a few days after hearing of his brother’s combat death. He returned on June 8, 2014.
Mohamud liked the idea of conducting an attack on a federal prison facility in the Fort Worth, Texas, area where the notorious terrorist operative Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was being held on an 86-year federal sentence for trying to kill American citizens. At the time, Siddiqui’s conviction and imprisonment had become a rallying point for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The plan was to recruit several other terrorists, gather weapons, and kidnap and kill soldiers and Americans in uniform. At one point, he showed several potential recruits how to fire handguns at a shooting range.
The plot was serious. The FBI arrested Mohamud in November 2015 as he was about to board a flight from Columbus, Ohio, to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. In January 2018, a judge sentenced Mohamud to 264 months in prison on a guilty plea to various terrorism charges.