STERLING, Va. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers arrested a Minnesota man on Monday at Washington Dulles International Airport after officers identified him as an impostor to his brother’s passport.
Ali Yassin Mohamed, a 25 year-old man from Minneapolis, Minn., arrived on a flight from Doha, Qatar Monday afternoon and presented a U.S. passport. CBP’s Simplified Arrival facial comparison technology detected a biometric mismatch and a CBP officer referred Mohamed to a secondary examination.
During the secondary examination, Mohamed allegedly admitted to CBP officers that he used his brother’s passport as his own identification. A computer search revealed that Mohamed had outstanding arrest warrants from Ramsey County, Minn., for drug and ammunition possession charges in addition to a probation violation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia will prosecute Mohamed on the impostor charges.
“Posing as someone else when attempting to enter the United States is a serious violation of U.S. immigration law and has very serious consequences, such as criminal prosecution in this case,” said Keith Fleming, Acting Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “Customs and Border Protection officers enforce our nation’s immigration laws. This is a great example of how our officers use their law enforcement experience coupled with biometric facial comparison to detect the entry of impostors deliberately masquerading as lawful travelers.”
To date, more than 57 million travelers have participated in the biometric facial comparison process at air, land and sea ports of entry. Since September 2018, CBP has leveraged facial biometrics to prevent more than 300 imposters from illegally entering the United States by using genuine travel documents that were issued to other people.
Simplified Arrival uses biometric facial comparison technology to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the United States. This process provides travelers with a touchless process that further secures and streamlines international arrivals while fulfilling a longstanding congressional mandate to biometrically record the entry and exit of non-U.S. citizens.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. CBP officers screen international travelers and cargo and search for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders.