Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday that a Somali refugee charged with ramming his car into a Canadian policeman, stabbing him and then injuring four people while leading officers on a high-speed chase over the weekend was ordered deported from the U.S. in 2011.
Jennifer Elzea, an ICE spokeswoman, said Hasan Sharif Abdulahi was taken into ICE’s custody in San Diego in July of that year and in September an immigration judge ordered him sent back to Somalia.
Elzea said Sharif was released from custody two months later then failed to report as ordered for his removal on Jan. 24, 2012. She said efforts to locate him were unsuccessful. She also said Sharif had no known criminal history at the time of his encounters with ICE.
Sharif now faces 11 charges in Canada, including five of attempted murder in the Saturday night attack in Edmonton, Alberta. Police have raised the possibility of filing terrorism charges against Sharif because there was an Islamic State flag in his car and he was investigated in 2015 for espousing extremist views.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Sharif, 30, entered Canada legally in 2012 and obtained refugee status. Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Goodale, said Sharif entered from the United States through a regular port of entry and was granted refugee status later that year.