Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/611901
ByGaranceBurkeand Alicia A. Caldwell The Associated Press WASHINGTON Thewoman who carried out the San Bernardino massacre with her husband immigrated to the U.S. legally last year on a special visa for fiances of U.S. citizens. Authorities said Fri- day that Pakistani citi- zen Tashfeen Malik, 27, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader under an alias account on Facebook just moments before she and her husband, Syed Farook, opened fire on a holiday banquet for his co-workers, killing 14. They later died in a gunbattle with police Wednesday. Malik, who had been liv- ing with her family in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, had passed several government background checks and en- tered the U.S. in July 2014 on a K-1 visa, which allowed her to travel to the U.S. and get married within 90 days of arrival. Malik was subjected to a vetting process the U.S. government describes as vigorous — including in- person interviews, finger- prints, checks against U.S. terrorists watch lists and reviews of her family mem- bers, travel history and places where she lived and worked. The process was began when she applied for a visa to move to the United States and marry Farook, a 28-year-old Pak- istani-American restau- rant health inspector for the county who was raised in Southern California. Foreigners applying from countries recognized as home to Islamic extremists, such as Pakistan, undergo additional scrutiny before the State Department and Homeland Security Depart- ment approve permission for a K-1 visa. It was not immediately clear what information Ma- lik provided as a part of the background check by the State Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigra- tion Services or when she became radicalized. "This is not a visa that someone would use be- cause it is easy to get into the US, because there are more background checks on this type of visa than just about anything else," said Palma Yanni, a Wash- ington-based attorney who has processed dozens of K-1 visas. "But fingerprints and biometrics and names aren't going to tell you what is in somebody's head un- less they somewhere have taken some action." The government's fail- ure to detect Malik's sym- pathies before the shoot- ings will undoubtedly have implications on the debate over the Obama adminis- tration's plans to accept Syrian refugees. The vet- ting process for refugees is similar, though not iden- tical, to the one for fiance- visa applicants. "Uncle Sam just looks on as an approving cupid and doesn't pay as much atten- tion as he should to the is- suance of these visas," said David North, a senior fellow with the Center for Immi- gration Studies, which ad- vocates for stricter immi- gration policies. Refugees also submit to in-person interviews over- seas, where they provide biographical details about themselves, including their families, friendships, so- cial or political activities, employment, phone num- bers and email accounts. They provide biometric information, including fin- gerprints. Syrians are sub- ject to additional classified controls. Republican lawmakers and governors across the U.S., as well as advocates for stricter immigration en- forcement, have challenged the effectiveness of the vet- ting process for refugees. IMMIGRATION Killingspursconcerns about fiance visa program By Amanda Lee Myers and Tami Abdollah The Associated Press SAN BERNARDINO The FBI announced Friday that it is investigating the mass shooting at a South- ern California office party as an act of terrorism, but the agency's director said there is no indication the husband and wife who killed 14 people were part of a larger plot or members of a terror cell. If the investigation con- firms those initial suspi- cions, the attack would be the deadliest inspired by Islamic extremism on U.S. soil since Sept. 11. While authorities did not cite specific evidence that led them to the ter- rorism focus, a U.S. law enforcement official said that the wife, Tashfeen Malik, had under a Face- book alias pledged alle- giance to the Islamic State group and its leader. A Facebook official said Ma- lik praised Islamic State in a post at 11 a.m. Wednes- day, around the time the couple stormed a San Ber- nardino social service cen- ter and opened fire. Malik and her husband, Syed Farook, died in a fierce gunbattle with au- thorities several hours af- ter their commando-style assault on a gathering of Farook's colleagues from San Bernardino County's health department. An Islamic State-affil- iated news service called Malik and Farook "sup- porters" of their Islamist cause but stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack. FBI Director James Comey would not discuss whether anyone affiliated with IS communicated back to Malik, but he said there was no indication yet that the plot was directed by any other foreign terror group. He also declined to rule out that future possi- bility. "The investigation so far has developed indications of radicalization by the kill- ers and of potential inspi- ration by foreign terror- ist organizations," Comey said. He cautioned that the investigation has not yet shown evidence the couple was part of a larger group. Despite mounting signs of the couple's radicaliza- tion, there "is a lot of ev- idence that doesn't quite make sense," Comey said in a nod to the fact that the investigation was just two days old. Attorneys representing Farook's family urged the public and media to wait for specific evidence before jumping to conclusions. They said none of his rela- tives had any indication ei- ther Farook or his wife held extremist views. David Bowdich, head of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said "a number of pieces of evidence" point to terrorism and that the agency was focused on that idea "for good reason." He would not elaborate. The U.S. official who re- vealed the Facebook post was not authorized to dis- cuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of an- onymity. The Facebook of- ficial, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed under corpo- rate policy to be quoted by name, said the company discovered Wednesday's post on Thursday, removed the profile from public view and reported its contents to law enforcement. Bowdich said he was not aware of the IS-affiliated Aamaq news service re- port but was not surprised IS would attempt to link it- self to the attack. He said investigators were looking carefully to determine if there is an IS connection. Farook and Malik rented a townhome where investi- gators said they found an arsenal of ammunition and homemade bombs. On Fri- day morning, the proper- ty's owner allowed report- ers inside in an unusual scene broadcast live on ca- ble TV. Bowdich said the FBI was done with the scene. Analysts were trying to re- trieve data from two cell- phones found nearby that had been crushed in an ap- parent attempt to destroy the information inside. "We hope that will take us to their motivation," he said. Until Friday, federal and local law enforcement offi- cials said terrorism was a possibility but that the vi- olence could have stemmed from a workplace grudge. Attorneys for Farook's family urged the public not to rush to judgment. "If the most evidence there is to any affiliation is a Facebook account un- der another person's name ... then that's hardly any- thing at all," attorney Da- vid Chesley said. 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