How did British terrorist with criminal convictions get a visa to enter the United States?

There is growing outrage and demand for answers as to how the British terrorist gunman who took four hostages at a Texas synagogue on Saturday was even able to enter the US on a tourist visa when he was known to intelligence agencies in the UK.

Malik Faisal Akram, 44, flew to New York City from the UK on January 22, despite being known to MI5.

His family say he had a criminal history but somehow, he was able to get an ESTA tourist visa – which are supposed to be off-limits to foreigners who have broken the law.

Akram spent two weeks at a homeless shelter in Dallas, during which time he was able to buy a gun on the street.

On Saturday, he arrived at Beth Israel Congregation in the morning and knocked on the window. He was welcomed inside by the rabbi, had a cup of tea with him, and then raided services at 11am while the congregation was praying.

The standoff lasted nearly 12 hours before he was shot dead by a SWAT team. None of the hostages were hurt.

Now, there is growing fury over how Akram even got into the country but there was silence from the White House and major DC politicians.

‘How long did the FBI know a radical Islamist foreign national with a criminal record was in the country? Were they working with him or his associates?

‘How did this person get a visa? Did he slip through the cracks because they were too busy surveilling your conservative grandma?’ Donald Trump Jr. tweeted.

‘They don’t want us to talk about how a known jihadist got past the FBI and into the country, obtained an illegal firearm, and took hostages at a synagogue,’ Jasec Posobiec said.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz said the details so-far known of the attack were ‘highly concerning.’

He told DailyMail.com: ‘A full investigation must be completed, any anyone else found to have been involved in this attack or otherwise engaged in illegal activity should be brought to justice.’

Stephen Miller, Trump’s former adviser, tweeted that ‘every journalist’ should be asking whether Biden changing vetting laws for tourists contributed to the incident.

The Independent reports that Akram was known to MI5 but that they didn’t consider him a severe threat.

It’s unclear what he said in his application for an ESTA tourist visa, which asks whether or not applicants have a criminal record.

The ESTA website claims checks will be carried out to see if an applicant has any undisclosed criminal convictions on file.

But according to social justice charity Nacro, the US authorities do not have access to criminal records held on the UK’s Police National Computer.

There was equal outrage in the UK, where lawmakers demanded to know how he was able to by-pass America’s immigration rules, which are known to be some of the strictest in the world.

Tory MP Bob Seely told MailOnline there seemed to have been a ‘dreadful’ error at the UK and US borders caused by an ‘intelligence failure’ and it needed to be looked at.

‘This is clearly a failure of intelligence sharing. It is absolutely dreadful that he has been allowed to go to the States and hurt people.

‘Clearly something has gone wrong somewhere,’ he said.

Another senior MP with knowledge of the security services voiced surprise that the background had not been picked up. ‘How did he get into the US?’ they said. ‘You get picked up for walking on the cracks in the pavement.’

Yesterday, his brother, Gulbar, demanded how he was allowed into America despite a long criminal record.

He said Malik was mentally ill and was mourning the death of his brother three months ago, reportedly from Covid.

The extent of his criminal record is not yet clear, but it may be that some of his offences may have been too petty or too old to stop him being turned away from the United States’ border.

Source: Daily Mail