Three months before detonating two bombs at the Boston Marathon, Tamerlan Tsarnaev passed the U.S. citizenship test, according to federal immigration records obtained by The Boston Globe.
Files on Tsarnaev and his friend, Ibragim Todashev, were released to the paper by the Department of Homeland Security, though they were heavily redacted.
Only 206 pages were released in their entirety, the Globe reported, making it difficult to trace how Tsarnaev was put on the path toward U.S. citizenship.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released a statement Sunday to the Globe, saying: “While USCIS found no errors in the processing of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s or Ibragim Todashev’s applications, we are always seeking to strengthen our very intensive screening processes.”
Tamerlan, 26, died in a firefight with police after the bombings. Todashev was killed a month later during an FBI interrogation in Florida.