Synagogue hostage suspect was reportedly probed by UK in 2020
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FIRST ON FOX: A group of Republican senators is sounding the alarm on the "adequacy" of U.S. visa screening protocols after Malik Faisal Akram, the British national who held four Jewish worshippers hostage at a Texas synagogue earlier this month, was admitted into the United States, despite his reported criminal record and past security monitoring by British domestic intelligence.
Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley, John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, Ben Sasse, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton, John Kennedy, Thom Tillis, and Marsha Blackburn penned letters to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers about how Akram gained entry into the United States.
REPUBLICANS DEMAND ANSWERS ON HOW ALLEGED TEXAS SYNAGOGUE HOSTAGE-TAKER WAS ALLOWED INTO US
The senators also wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking whether the bureau considers Akram to be an "international terrorist," particularly a "jihadist or fundamental terrorist," and demanded information on the FBI’s "intelligence-sharing relationship" with the United Kingdom.
"We are writing to request information about the case of Malik Faisal Akram, a British national who held four people hostage at the Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville, Texas, for hours on January 15th, and was killed by FBI agents after the hostages escaped," they wrote.
Akram, a British citizen from Blackburn, England, was shot dead by law enforcement last week after he took hostages in Texas. While no hostages were killed, Akram was heard demanding the release of Pakistani national Aafia Siddiqui, who is in prison for trying to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and who was dubbed "Lady Al Qaeda."
Akram reportedly arrived in the U.S. "legally" in December 2021, the senators wrote, noting that law enforcement officials have said that Akram "apparently traveled to the United States under the terms of the United Kingdom’s membership in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program," and that British intelligence officials advised U.S. counterparts that a review of their databases showed "no derogatory information about Akram."
"And yet, Akram’s brother in the United Kingdom told reporters that Akram ‘had been known to the counterterrorism police in Britain,’" they wrote, citing an NBC News report that Akram was the "subject of a short, low-level investigation by the U.K.’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency in the second half of 2020."
The senators, pointing to the report, noted that the investigation was based on information that he "may have been involved in Islamist terrorism."
"In addition to being the subject of a security investigation, Akram also reportedly had a criminal record. According to Akram’s brother, Akram was arrested in the 1990s when he was 19 and sent to a young offenders’ institute, and was later sentenced to six months in prison for ‘violent disorder’ for wielding a baseball bat during a family feud with his cousins," they wrote.
They added that "Akram’s brother in the United Kingdom told reporters that Akram was ‘a deeply troubled man’ and added that he had "mental health issues."
"In light of the numerous red flags in Akram’s record, we are extremely concerned about the adequacy of our visa adjudication and admission screening protocols. As Akram’s own brother told reporters: ‘How had he gotten into America? … Why was he granted a visa? How did he land at J.F.K. airport and not get stopped for one second?’" the senators wrote to Blinken, Mayorkas, and Wray.
The senators requested a number of records from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, including a copy of Akram’s "A-File," and raised questions regarding issues such as the security information-sharing agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom under the Visa Waiver Program.
The Visa Waiver Program allows nationals of participating countries (including the U.K.) to travel to the U.S. for 90 days without a visa -- instead having to go through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) verification process. ESTA, a U.S.-based system, checks the applicants' details and any criminal history and gives approval or denial within minutes. Travelers (as with all U.S. non-citizens) are given a brief questioning by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on arrival in the United States.
The senators also asked detailed questions about the process through which Akram apparently entered the United States "without significant scrutiny," pointing to a report from the Congressional Research Service that stated that some critics of the Visa Waiver Program "have raised concerns about the possibility that terrorists will enter the United States under the VWP because those entering under the VWP undergo a biographic, rather than a biometric (i.e., fingerprint and digital photograph), security screening and do not need to interview in person with a U.S. consular official before embarking for the United States."
The senators also questioned the officials on whether an agreement exists with the United Kingdom that requires them to "share with the United States the identities of persons on whom MI5 has opened an investigation," and if so, whether the United Kingdom shared information about Akram with the U.S.
In their letter to Wray, the senators further requested information about the bureau’s intelligence-sharing relationship with the United Kingdom, and the FBI’s communications with British counterparts before and after Akram’s attack.
MALIK FAISAL AKRAM: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT TEXAS SYNAGOGUE HOSTAGE SUSPECT
They also raised questions about what information relating to Akram was contained in available databases, including his criminal history and data shared by international partners.
The senators questioned Wray on how Akram acquired the handgun that he possessed during the hostage attack in Texas and whether a background check of Akram would have revealed his criminal record, mental health issues, or whether the U.S. classified him as a national security threat.
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The letters come after a number of Republican lawmakers, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives, have been demanding answers on the matter and requesting briefings from both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, earlier this month, said that Akram had been checked on a number of databases.
"Well, our understanding, and obviously we're still looking into this, is that he was checked against U.S. government databases multiple times prior to entering the country. And the U.S. government did not have any derogatory information about the individual in our systems at the time of entry," she said. "We're certainly looking back as a reference to what occurred to learn every possible lesson we can to prevent attacks like this in the future."
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