SACRAMENTO, Calif. – 7:35 p.m.
Federal officials say an investigation in California into a refugee charged with attempting to support terrorist organizations led to the arrest of three of his relatives in Wisconsin in a separate case.
Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento, says the arrest of three suspects Thursday in Milwaukee wasn't related to national security. She says the three are relatives of 23-year-old Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento, who was arrested Thursday and accused of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it.
FBI Milwaukee Division spokesman Leonard Peace says there was no threat to the public associated with the arrests.
Peace says the three haven't made an initial court appearance. That's expected Friday.
They were not identified, and no further details were immediately available.
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6:20 p.m.
Federal authorities in Texas have charged an Iraqi refugee with attempting to support the Islamic State.
They unsealed the indictment in Houston on Thursday as authorities in California charged a Syrian refugee with lying about his travels to fight in Syria.
The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United States is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston says 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan of Houston was indicted Wednesday on three charges of trying to provide material support to the Islamic State group.
The criminal complaint unsealed in Sacramento, California, accuses 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.
Authorities say both men are Palestinians born in Iraq.
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5:19 p.m.
Authorities say they have arrested two people on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas.
A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses a Sacramento man of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to investigators about it.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento says 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, an Iraqi citizen, was arrested Thursday morning in Sacramento.
He is charged with making a false statement involving international terrorism.
Meanwhile, the governor and lieutenant governor of Texas praised the arrest in Houston of what Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick called a terror suspect.
Patrick says in a statement that the arrests may have prevented a terror-related event.
Federal officials say a separate arrest in Milwaukee that grew out of the Sacramento investigation is not related to national security.
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