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April 10, 2007
West African man suspected of war crimes convicted for fraud, perjury
Man lied to enter U.S. as a refugee; will be deported after criminal prosecution
CHICAGO - A West African man suspected of committing crimes against humanity in Liberia was convicted here last week in federal court for lying about his involvement with armed rebel groups to falsely gain entry to the U.S. as a refugee.
Prince Solomon Knox, 44, a native of Sierra Leone and resident of St. Louis, Mo., fraudulently entered the U.S. in 2004 as a refugee through a program to admit Liberians living in the Ivory Coast. He was convicted April 4 on four counts of lying on immigration forms and in interviews with immigration officers about being a combatant with armed rebel groups that committed human rights violations in parts of West Africa during much of the 1990s.
According to court documents, Knox was admitted to the U.S. as a refugee and entered at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on April 14, 2004. In applying for admission, Knox failed to disclose his affiliations with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel army comprised mainly of Sierra Leoneans that fought a failed insurrection in Sierra Leone from about 1991 to 2002; the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), an armed rebel group closely aligned with the RUF; and the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a separate rebel faction of the NPFL.
On Dec. 9, 2003, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Knox completed a refugee application that failed to disclose his affiliations with the RUF, NPFL, and INPFL, organizations that engaged in civilian massacres, mutilations, recruitment of child soldiers and other human rights violations. During an interview with a U.S. immigration officer, Knox falsely stated under oath that he had performed no past military service; had not been a member in armed groups; had provided no aid to armed groups; had not been a member of a terrorist organization or member of a group that endorsed terrorist activity; and had never held a weapon. He also repeated that he had never held a weapon in an interview with an ICE agent on March 26, 2006.
"ICE will not allow the United States to become a safe haven for those who come to this country in an attempt to evade prosecution and punishment for human rights violations committed abroad," said Elissa A. Brown, ICE special agent-in-charge who heads the Chicago Office of Investigations. "They come here thinking they can escape their past, but they are not welcome here."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Nasser Weiss prosecuted this case with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis, Mo.
Immigration fraud carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and making false statements carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. Sentencing for Knox is scheduled for May 17. Following the conclusion of the defendant's criminal proceedings, Knox will be placed into deportation proceedings.
Identifying and removing persecutors and human rights violators from the United States is one of ICE's top enforcement programs. To achieve this goal, ICE created the Human Rights Violators Unit, with a specific mandate to deny safe haven to human rights violators by bringing to bear a full range of investigative techniques and legal authorities to identify, locate, investigate and remove them from the United States. To date, ICE has initiated nationwide over 800 human rights related investigations or removal cases from over 26 countries.
ICE encourages the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding human rights abusers living in the United States. Nationwide, anonymous tips may be reported at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423).
-- ICE --
