Several Saudi Arabian Students Accused Of Crimes In US Missing, FBI Investigating

President Donald Trump's administration and other federal agencies have launched an investigation into the disappearance of several Saudi Arabian students who faced criminal charges in the U.S.

An aide of Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (Democrat) told the Oregonian that the lawmaker found out about the severity of the situation Wednesday when he was in a meeting with Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. The aide said they spoke briefly about the students during their meeting and McAleenan convinced Wyden that his agency and other departments in the government were doing everything they could to locate the students.

“I am confident that he is taking this issue seriously,” Wyden, said of McAleenan in a statement. “I urged him to proceed aggressively.”

Wyden, who is a member of Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, had told the Customs and Border chief to investigate five cases of Saudi students, accused of crimes such as rape, child pornography and hit-and-run in the state, who vanished during their ongoing trial. He said he sought answers from the FBI, his state and the U.S. justice departments but had not heard back from them.

Similar disappearances of Saudi students, suspected of having committed crimes ranging from manslaughter to sexual assault, were reported in seven other states across the U.S.

Three of five Saudi students in Oregon had their passports confiscated by federal agents, who confirmed the remaining two had returned to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government also paid the bail amount and legal fees of four of the defendants.

On Feb. 8, Wyden and his colleague, Jeff Merkley, (D-OR) introduced a pair of bills that required the federal government to investigate disappearances of the Saudi students, who were being allegedly helped by foreign consulates to escape criminal prosecution in the U.S.

“Saudi Arabia’s blatant disrespect for international norms cannot be allowed to stand,” Merkley said in a statement. “We should all be able to agree that any nation that helps their citizens escape from the law needs to be held fully accountable.”

Wyden, on the other hand, also held President Donald Trump’s administration responsible for enabling such disappearances. “More than a month after … Saudi Arabia’s government apparently helped accused criminals flee the United States, the Trump Administration has failed to explain what, if anything, it is doing to ensure these men face American justice. Our bills will force the Justice Department to get to the bottom of what happened, and create tough consequences for any government that helps flout the U.S. justice system,” he said.

Fahad Nazer, a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., said it was not unusual for a foreign country to cover the cost of bail for any citizen jailed in the U.S. “Furthermore, the Saudi government advises all its citizens to strictly observe the laws and regulations of every country they visit or reside in,” he said.