Busy day with dangerous “refugees” slipping through security screening. See Iraqis arrested in Kentucky, here. Then head over to Lawrenceville, Georgia for a guilty plea in the case of a Serbian war criminal who got into the US as a refugee.
From the Lilburn-Mountain Park Patch:
They simply took his word for it!
A 48-year-old Lawrenceville man who served in the Serbian paramilitary police during the 1992-95 Bosnian War pleaded guilty Tuesday to lying to immigration officials about his background, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.
Zeljko Zekic had filed paperwork saying that he was unemployed and living in the Serbian Republic, disguising his true role in the conflict under accused war ciminal Ratko Mladic, according to the release.
U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates charged that Zekic and his family applied for refugee status in the United States in 2002 and eventually were allowed to move here based on the false information. Zekic later received a green card and is now a permanent resident alien, according to the release.
Later research by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit determined Zekic had lied about his background. According to the release, Zekic was a master sergeant with a police force inside a Serbian-controlled Bosnian town during the entire conflict.
Because of war crimes committed during the conflict, all adult male Serbs who had lived in Bosnia during that time and sought U.S. refugee status were checked for any connection to Republic of Serbia Army units. Zekic’s false statements prevented a proper background investigation at the time he applied for refugee status, the Justice Department said.
Unbelievable. How did his lies prevent a thorough security check?
Here is the FBI press release on the case. I had hoped they would tell us what tipped them off to do the security check now that should have been done BEFORE he was resettled, but I don’t see it.