U.S. citizen gets 10 years for joining ISIS in Syria
June 3 (UPI) -- A 49-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who pleaded guilty to charges of fighting U.S.-led coalition forces as an Islamic State militant has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Lirim Sylejmani was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in December to charges of receiving military training from ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.
"The defendant will spend a decade in prison thinking about the betrayal to this country," U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement.
Sylejmani and his family were detained by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria on Feb. 27, 2019, as coalition fighters made their final advances on ISIS' last caliphate in the country, which fell the next month.
He was then transferred to U.S. law enforcement on Sept. 15 the following year to face charges in the United States.
According to prosecutors, Sylejmani worked with ISIS from November 2015, when he moved from Kosovo to Syria to join the militant group, to the day of his capture.
Prosecutors said he changed his name to Abu Sulayman al-Kosovi and trained alongside other recruits to be an ISIS soldier following his arrival in the Middle Eastern country. His training included instruction on using AK-47 rifles, PK machine guns, M-16 rifles and grenades.
The Justice Department said he fought against the Syrian Democratic Forces and was wounded in battle, having been hit by shrapnel in the leg. Because of the injury, he was reassigned to a different battalion in the fall of 2017. Prosecutors said he was paid for his services by ISIS.
After being captured, Sylejmani spoke with various media outlets, telling NPR in late 2019 that he and his family arrived in Syria via Canada. He said ISIS promised them free housing, electricity and water, but instead, they "starved" living under the caliphate.
"Anyone thinking that ISIS is the answer to their questions, best think again," Pirro said. "We will go to any lengths to root out subversive individuals who want to overthrow the government and harm its citizens."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kilmar Ábrego García returned from El Salvador to face criminal charges in US
Kilmar Ábrego García, the man whom the Donald Trump administration mistakenly deported from Maryland to El Salvador in March, returned to the US on Friday to face criminal charges. In a press briefing on Friday, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said that a federal grand jury in Tennessee had indicted Ábrego García on counts of illegally smuggling undocumented people as well as of conspiracy to commit that crime. 'Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant and they agreed to return him to our country,' Bondi said of Ábrego García. She thanked the Salvadorian president, Nayib Bukele, 'for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges'. 'This is what American justice looks like upon completion of his sentence,' Bondi added. Ábrego García – a 29-year-old Salvadorian whose wife and young child in Maryland are US citizens – appeared in federal court in Nashville on Friday evening. His arraignment was set for 13 June, when he will enter a plea, according to local media reports. Until then, he will remain in federal custody. In a statement to the Hill on Friday, Ábrego García's lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg accused the Trump administration of having 'disappeared' his client 'to a foreign prison in violation of a court order'. 'Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him,' he added. Sandoval-Moshenberg also said: 'This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished – not after.' Sandoval-Moshenberg said the White House's treatment of his client was 'an abuse of power, not justice'. He called on Ábrego García to face the same immigration judge who had previously granted him a federal protection order against deportation to El Salvador 'to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent' there. That, Sandoval-Moshenberg argued, 'is the ordinary manner of doing things' – and he said that is what the US supreme court had ordered in April. Bondi on Friday maintained that federal grand jurors found that Ábrego García 'has played a significant role' in an abusive smuggling ring that had operated for nearly a decade. The attorney general added that if convicted, Ábrego García would be deported to El Salvador after completing his sentence in the US. Officials on Friday portrayed the indictment of Ábrego García by a grand jury in Tennessee as vindication of their approach to immigration enforcement. 'The man has a horrible past and I could see a decision being made, bring him back, show everybody how horrible this guy is,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that it had been the justice department that decided to bring Ábrego García back. According to the indictment, Ábrego García worked with at least five co-conspirators to bring immigrants to the United States illegally, and then transported them from the US-Mexico border to other destinations in the country. Ábrego García often picked up immigrants in Houston, and made more than 100 trips between Texas and Maryland from 2016 to 2025, the indictment says. The indictment also alleges Ábrego García transported firearms and drugs. According to the indictment, one of his co-conspirators belonging to the same ring was involved in the transportation of immigrants whose tractor-trailer overturned in Mexico in 2021, resulting in 50 deaths. Sandoval-Moshenberg called the criminal charges 'fantastical' and a 'kitchen sink' of allegations. 'This is all based on the statements of individuals who are currently either facing prosecution or in federal prison,' he said. 'I want to know what they offered those people.' Ábrego García entered the US without permission around 2011 while fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. Despite the judicial order meant to prevent his deportation to El Salvador, on 15 March, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials deported him to El Salvador after arresting him in Maryland. He was held in the so-called Center for Terrorism Confinement, a controversial mega-prison better known as Cecot. The Trump administration subsequently admitted that Ábrego García's deportation was an 'administrative error'. But it has repeatedly cast him as a MS-13 gang member on television – a claim which his wife, a US citizen, and his attorneys staunchly reject. Ábrego García also had no criminal record in the US before the indictment announced on Friday, according to court documents. On 4 April, federal judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to 'facilitate and effectuate' Ábrego García's return from El Salvador after his family filed a lawsuit in response to his deportation. The supreme court unanimously upheld Xinis's order a week later. In an unsigned decision, the court said that Xinis's decision 'properly requires the government to 'facilitate' Ábrego García's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador'. A Friday statement from the US senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the Trump administration had 'finally relented' to his demand to afford Ábrego due process. 'This is not about the man,' said Van Hollen, who visited Ábrego García in El Salvador in April. 'It's about his constitutional rights – and the rights of all.' Bukele wrote on X, in part, that he would not refuse the Trump administration's request for 'the return of a gang member to face charges'. Reuters contributed to this report
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador back in U.S. now
June 6 (UPI) -- Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, is back in the United States after being indicted in Tennessee on two federal charges involving migrant smuggling, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday. Bondi said Abrego Garcia, 29, is in the United States to "face justice." He made his first court appearance Friday afternoon in Nashville. The Justice Department said in a court filing that he should be held in pretrial custody because "he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight, and no condition or combination of conditions would ensure the safety of the community or his appearance in court." On May 21, a grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned an indictment, charging Abrego Garcia with criminal counts of alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, Bondi said at a news conference. Abrego Garcia is the only member of the alleged conspiracy indicted. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele was presented with an arrest warrant for him and he agreed to return him to the United States, Bondi said. "We're grateful to President Bukele for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges," Bondi said. Bondi said that if Abrego Garcia is convicted of the charges and serves his sentence, he will be deported back to his home country of El Salvador. "The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring," Bondi said. "They found this was his full-time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women. He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found, smuggling people throughout our country." Ben Schrader, the chief of the criminal division in the office for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville, resigned the same week of the grand jury indictment last month, CNN reported. Schrader's post on LinkedIn does not mention the Abrego Garcia case. On April 17, Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with his constituent in El Salvador. "After months of ignoring our Constitution, it seems the Trump Admin has relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and due process for Kilmar Abrego Garcia," Van Hollen posted on X Friday. "This has never been about the man -- it's about his constitutional rights & the rights of all." In the indictment unsealed Friday afternoon, Abrego Garcia and others are accused of participating in a conspiracy in which they "knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates." The allegations from 2016 to this year involve a half-dozen alleged unnamed co-conspirators. Abrego Garcia and others worked to move undocumented aliens between Texas and Maryland and other states more than 100 times, according to the indictment. They "ordinarily picked up the undocumented aliens in the Houston, Texas area after the aliens had unlawfully crossed the Southern border of the United States from Mexico," the indictment said. Abrego Garcia and someone referred to a CC-1 "then transported the undocumented aliens from Texas to other parts of the United States to further the aliens' unlawful presence in the United States." To cover up the alleged conspiracy, prosecutors say Abrego Garcia and his co-conspirators "routinely devised and employed knowingly false cover stories to provide to law enforcement if they were stopped during a transport," including claims that migrants being transported were headed to construction jobs. In November 2022, Abrego Garcia is accused of driving a Chevrolet Suburban and was pulled over on a Tennessee interstate highway, with nine other Hispanic men without identification or luggage. Prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia transported narcotics to Maryland, though he wasn't previously charged with any crimes. "For the last 2 months, the media and Democrats have burnt to the ground any last shred of credibility they had left as they glorified Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a known MS13 gang member, human trafficker, and serial domestic abuser," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on X. "Justice awaits this Salvadoran man." Abrego Garcia and his family have denied allegations that he's an MS-13 member, and he fled gang violence in El Salvador. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, said his client should appear in immigration court, not criminal court. "The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order," Sandoval-Moshenberg Now told CNN. "Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him. This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice." Abrego Garcia deported in March Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland since he arrived in the United States in 2011 unlawfully. The government earlier, through a confidential informant, said his clothes had alleged gang markings when he was arrested in 2019. Abrego Garcia was living with his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and children when he was arrested in March and deported to El Salvador to the maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. He was with a group of more than 230 men, mostly Venezuelans, accused of being gang members. In April, the State Department said Abrego Garcia was moved to a lower-security facility in Santa Ana. The Trump administration has acknowledged that Abrego Garcia's deportation was a mistake because he had been granted a legal status in 2019. The Department of Homeland Security is banned from removing him to his home country of El Salvador because he was likely to face persecution by local gangs. He didn't have a hearing before his deportation. The government has utilized the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to quickly deport migrants from the United States. In an April hearing, District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to comply with expedited discovery to determine whether they were complying with the directive to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, which was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The high court and district judge said the Trump administration must "facilitate" his return for due process. On Wednesday, Xinis ordered seven documents to be unsealed in the deportation. The criminal charges could impact his immigration case, John Sandweg, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told CNN. "I think what we're going to see is on the back end of this criminal prosecution - now that they're prosecuting him for these immigration-related offenses - if they get a conviction, they will go back to the immigration court and argue that now there are those changed circumstances," Sandweg, who is now a partner at law firm Nixon Peabody.
UPI
7 hours ago
- UPI
Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador back in U.S. now
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. (C), speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia (L), a Salvadoran immigrant living in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, in San Salvador, El Salvador in April. File Photo by President Nayib Bukele for UPI | License Photo June 6 (UPI) -- Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, is back in the United States after being indicted in Tennessee on two federal charges involving migrant smuggling, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday. Bondi said Abrego Garcia, 29, is in the United States to "face justice." He made his first court appearance Friday afternoon in Nashville. The Justice Department said in a court filing that he should be held in pretrial custody because "he poses a danger to the community and a serious risk of flight, and no condition or combination of conditions would ensure the safety of the community or his appearance in court." On May 21, a grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned an indictment, charging Abrego Garcia with criminal counts of alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, Bondi said at a news conference. Abrego Garcia is the only member of the alleged conspiracy indicted. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele was presented with an arrest warrant for him and he agreed to return him to the United States, Bondi said. "We're grateful to President Bukele for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges," Bondi said. Bondi said that if Abrego Garcia is convicted of the charges and serves his sentence, he will be deported back to his home country of El Salvador. "The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring," Bondi said. "They found this was his full-time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women. He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found, smuggling people throughout our country." Ben Schrader, the chief of the criminal division in the office for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville, resigned the same week of the grand jury indictment last month, CNN reported. Schrader's post on LinkedIn does not mention the Abrego Garcia case. On April 17, Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with his constituent in El Salvador. "After months of ignoring our Constitution, it seems the Trump Admin has relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and due process for Kilmar Abrego Garcia," Van Hollen posted on X Friday. "This has never been about the man -- it's about his constitutional rights & the rights of all." In the indictment unsealed Friday afternoon, Abrego Garcia and others are accused of participating in a conspiracy in which they "knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates." The allegations from 2016 to this year involve a half-dozen alleged unnamed co-conspirators. Abrego Garcia and others worked to move undocumented aliens between Texas and Maryland and other states more than 100 times, according to the indictment. They "ordinarily picked up the undocumented aliens in the Houston, Texas area after the aliens had unlawfully crossed the Southern border of the United States from Mexico," the indictment said. Abrego Garcia and someone referred to a CC-1 "then transported the undocumented aliens from Texas to other parts of the United States to further the aliens' unlawful presence in the United States." To cover up the alleged conspiracy, prosecutors say Abrego Garcia and his co-conspirators "routinely devised and employed knowingly false cover stories to provide to law enforcement if they were stopped during a transport," including claims that migrants being transported were headed to construction jobs. In November 2022, Abrego Garcia is accused of driving a Chevrolet Suburban and was pulled over on a Tennessee interstate highway, with nine other Hispanic men without identification or luggage. Prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia transported narcotics to Maryland, though he wasn't previously charged with any crimes. "For the last 2 months, the media and Democrats have burnt to the ground any last shred of credibility they had left as they glorified Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a known MS13 gang member, human trafficker, and serial domestic abuser," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on X. "Justice awaits this Salvadoran man." Abrego Garcia and his family have denied allegations that he's an MS-13 member, and he fled gang violence in El Salvador. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, said his client should appear in immigration court, not criminal court. "The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order," Sandoval-Moshenberg Now told CNN. "Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him. This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice." Abrego Garcia deported in March Abrego Garcia was living in Maryland since he arrived in the United States in 2011 unlawfully. The government earlier, through a confidential informant, said his clothes had alleged gang markings when he was arrested in 2019. Abrego Garcia was living with his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and children when he was arrested in March and deported to El Salvador to the maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. He was with a group of more than 230 men, mostly Venezuelans, accused of being gang members. In April, the State Department said Abrego Garcia was moved to a lower-security facility in Santa Ana. The Trump administration has acknowledged that Abrego Garcia's deportation was a mistake because he had been granted a legal status in 2019. The Department of Homeland Security is banned from removing him to his home country of El Salvador because he was likely to face persecution by local gangs. He didn't have a hearing before his deportation. The government has utilized the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to quickly deport migrants from the United States. In an April hearing, District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered the Trump administration to comply with expedited discovery to determine whether they were complying with the directive to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, which was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The high court and district judge said the Trump administration must "facilitate" his return for due process. On Wednesday, Xinis ordered seven documents to be unsealed in the deportation. The criminal charges could impact his immigration case, John Sandweg, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told CNN. "I think what we're going to see is on the back end of this criminal prosecution - now that they're prosecuting him for these immigration-related offenses - if they get a conviction, they will go back to the immigration court and argue that now there are those changed circumstances," Sandweg, who is now a partner at law firm Nixon Peabody.
