FBI goes hunting

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

Federal agents are trying to track down 3,000 Iraqi immigrants missing in the U.S. to make sure they aren’t working for Saddam Hussein. The fugitives were ordered deported, most for overstaying their visas, but disappeared before they could be sent home. The FBI discovered the cases as it began interviewing 50,000 recent Iraqi immigrants, searching for any information that might help if war comes with Iraq. Bush administration officials said most of the fugitives probably hate Saddam and just don’t want to go back. But finding them is a priority, since some could be spies. “We don’t really know how big the problem is or how big the threat might be,” one official told The Washington Post, “but the possibility is real.”