2 Middle Eastern refugees arrested in California and Texas on terrorism charges

Two men who came to the United States as refugees from the Middle East have been arrested on federal terrorism charges in Texas and California, U.S. officials announced Thursday.

Both are Palestinians born in Iraq, and a source told Reuters that while they were not involved in a single plot, they may have been in contact with each other. Authorities arrested Omar Faraj Saeed al-Hardan in Houston, and Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab in Sacramento. Al-Hardeen came to the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee in November 2009, court documents say, and al-Jayab arrived in the U.S. in 2012 as a refugee from Syria.

Al-Harden was charged with providing material support to the Islamic State and for making false statements about ties to the group while seeking U.S. naturalization, court documents say. In a criminal complaint, the FBI says that Al-Jayab lied about traveling to Syria and about posting on social media about his support for terrorist organizations.

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