Mistaken

The two Saudi men held by police after boarding a school bus could be released today.

TAMPA - Two Saudi men jailed last week after being accused of boarding a school bus and riding to a New Tampa high school could be released as early as today after federal and local authorities determined the pair are in this country legally and are not a security risk.

Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were charged with trespassing on school property Friday. A day after their arrest, the $250 bail was revoked by a judge to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement time to investigate the two men.

Monday, ICE Special Agent in Charge Robert Weber said investigators found Almanajam and Alsidran are here legally on student visas and that immigration holds would not be imposed.

"In a nutshell," he said, "we determined what their status was and that it did not require any immigration detention. They are not here illegally."

The two University of South Florida students, enrolled in the English Language Institute, were held in isolation at Orient Road Jail, said sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway, "for everybody's safety."

He said detectives over the weekend concluded the men meant no harm when they boarded a school bus at Fletcher Avenue and 42nd Street early Friday morning.

"We determined that they were apparently just confused," Callaway said. "There is nothing else to lead us to file more criminal charges."

I blogged about these men's arrest earlier. On Sunday I leaned towards this all being an innocent mistake. It appears I was right.

Alot of bloggers took a different view than my own last weekend. I wonder how many will comment on this latest news.

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