Saudi bus riders in Florida released

Arab News:

One should never, ever lie to authorities; and here’s why: Just four months into a five-year stay in the United States, Shaker Mohsen Al-sidran, 20, and his friend, 23-year-old Mana Saleh Al-manajam, experienced a harsh side of American life after deciding to board a yellow school bus last Friday.

The Saudi students were charged with trespassing on school property when they mistakenly boarded the school bus. A day after their arrest, a judge revoked their $250 bail to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement time to check the backgrounds of the two men.

The problems resulted from a language barrier.

“They have a very limited command of the English language,” Ahmed Bedier, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told Arab News by phone.

...

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s spokesman J.D. Callaway said the two men were “evasive” as they answered questions. They first said they were from Morocco, Callaway said, and then Saudi Arabia. The men later told authorities they said they were from Morocco because they worried Americans fear Saudi Arabian men.

...

“They went through the screening process like anyone else, and they are qualified to be in the program,” USF spokeswoman Lara Wade said of the two men.

On Tuesday a Florida Circuit Judge decided to release two Saudi students. The decision comes after federal and local authorities determined the students entered the country legally and were not deemed a security risk.

The case is not completely over. “There is still an outstanding charge of trespassing against them, it’s a misdemeanor, but we’re hoping that that charge will also be dropped,” said Bedier.

Asked if they wanted to return to Saudi Arabia after their ordeal, Bedier said no. “They want to stay in America.

When they were asked about their impressions of American now, they said: “America is a good country, but it’s difficult to get accustomed to the rules.”

One of the primary sources for the story was a guy from CAIR. That makes much of what is said suspect in my opinion. If their English is so bad that they have a problem communicating, it raises questions concerning what they are really learning at their school. I would think that "getting accustome to the rules" in the US would be a piece of cake for someone who grew up in Saudia Arabia where they have rules about everything including which had to use for wiping after a BM.