New DHS Files Raise Questions Over Boston Marathon Bomber’s Path to Citizenship
New files on Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his friend, Ibragim Todashev, were obtained by the Boston Globe under the Freedom of Information Act.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, black hat, seen on surveillance footage shortly before the bombings at the Boston Marathon.
BOSTON — This April will mark three years since the Boston Marathon bombings here. Now, previously confidential information on one of the bombers and his friend are surfacing.
The Boston Globe is reporting Tamerlan Tsarnaev passed the United States citizenship test three months before he and his brother, Dzhokhar, orchestrated the attack on the sporting event that killed three people and injured at least 260.
Months before the bombings, Tamerlan swore his allegiance to the United States and denied any links to terrorism, according to the report, as part of his path toward citizenship. Tamerlan’s friend, Ibragim Todashev, told officials he had left Massachusetts in September 2011, the same time when it is believed he helped Tamerlan kill three people in Waltham.
The new information raises more questions about whether the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) mishandled the two cases that ended up granting the pair refuge.
The USCIS defended the way the two immigration cases were handled, saying it “found no errors” in the processing of the two cases. “We are always seeking to strengthen our very intensive screening process,” a statement read.
Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police after the bombings. Todashev was killed in a separate incident in May 2013 in Orlando, Fla., by an FBI agent during an interrogation.
Read through the entire report for the full story on the national security issue.
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