60 Israelis on Tourist Visas Detained Since Sept. 11 - 9/11

Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:23:59 GMT

At least 60 young Israeli Jews have been arrested and detained around the country on immigration charges since the Sept. 11 attacks, many of them held on U.S. government officials' invocation of national security. Federal officials have presented no evidence that the Israelis, most of whom worked selling toys and trinkets at kiosks in shopping malls, had anything to do with terrorism. In one of the few cases to reach a hearing, a federal administrative law judge in Cleveland rejected any suggestion that the 11 Israelis before her had any ties to terrorists. The cases -- in Ohio, Missouri, Texas and California -- originated in the weeks after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. Tipsters apparently called the FBI or the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to report suspicions about Middle Eastern-looking people who were were living together in apartments and working in groups at shopping malls, sources involved in the cases said.