SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Authorities said Thursday that two people with ties to the Islamic State have been arrested on terrorism-related charges in California and Texas, including a refugee from Syria who is charged with lying to federal investigators about his travels to the civil war in that country.
The arrests feed a national debate over whether the United State is doing enough to screen refugees from Syria for terrorists from that nation.
Court documents say the men wanted to assist terrorist organizations affiliated with the Islamic State, although one man is accused of assisting a group that allied with Islamic State after he had returned to the United States.
A criminal complaint unsealed Thursday accuses Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, of Sacramento of traveling to Syria to fight and lying to investigators about it. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in a statement that while Al-Jayab was potentially dangerous, there is no indication that he planned any attacks in the United States.
Meanwhile, the U.S. attorney’s office in Houston said late Thursday that Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, of Houston was indicted Wednesday on three charges that he tried to provide material support to the Islamic State.
There is no indication from prosecutors that Al Hardan was a threat in the United States.
