The man federal authorities say provided money and organizational support to aspiring ISIS members in Brooklyn, one of whom allegedly wanted to assassinate President Barack Obama, was in America illegally.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in spring 2013, Abror Habibov “was a part-time student at the New York City College of Technology” and “was also living in the U.S. illegally, having overstayed his visa, according to court documents and law-enforcement officials.” (The Islamic man who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 overstayed his student visa to carry out his terrorist attack.)
Habibov, a 30-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan, was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida for helping “organize and finance” the plot involving Kazakhstan citizen Akhror Saidakhmetov and Uzbekistan citizen Abdurasul Juraboev — both of whom were granted permanent residency in the United States.
“Mr. Habibov appeared to be an important part of the alleged scheme because of his financial resources,” reports the Journal. “He accompanied Mr. Saidakhmetov to a Brooklyn travel agency to buy his airline tickets, and reached out to several contacts shortly before Mr. Saidakhmetov’s planned Feb. 25 flight to ask for funding and support for the two men in Syria, according to the complaint.”