Report: CBP Warns Terrorist Groups, Including Hamas, Could Pass Through Southern Border
The San Diego Field Office Intelligence Division of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has warned in a memo that members of terrorist groups — namely Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — could be encountered at the porous southern border. The warning comes weeks after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel, murdering 1,400 individuals and taking many more hostage on October 7.
The Daily Caller News Foundation first obtained and shared the October 20 memo, which warned that “individuals inspired by, or reacting to, the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt to travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border.”
“Foreign fighters motivated by ideology or mercenary soldiers of fortune may attempt to obfuscate travel to or from the US to or from countries in the Middle East through Mexico,” the memo reads.
The memo then provided patches of the three terrorist organizations — Hamas, Hezbollah, and PIJ — while listing off possible indicators. Those include military age males, military gear, insignias, associations to Israel, the Palestinian terrorizes or “regional affiliations,” as well as an “undetermined return plan.”
Under President Biden’s leadership, the U.S. is already experiencing a surge in illegal alien crossers who are on the “Terrorist Watch List.” Over the last year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “has encountered 149 illegal aliens at the nation’s northern and southern borders who were revealed to be listed on the federal government’s Terrorist Watch List,” as Breitbart News detailed.
The vast majority of the border crossers on the Terrorist Watch List, 146, were encountered at the southern border. That reflects a 7,350 percent increase in such encounters when compared to Fiscal Year 2017.
A report from House Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), further details this phenomenon, noting that Border Patrol “apprehended just 14 individuals whose names were on the [Terrorist Watch List], with most of them attempting to enter through the southwest border” between Fiscal Year 2017 and Fiscal Year 2020.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is demanding President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, disclose the number of “special interest aliens” released into the U.S. Such illegal aliens are described as “a non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests.”
“I write with alarm regarding the uptick in potential terrorist-linked illegal aliens encountered at the southern border. This development follows the barbaric attack perpetrated by Hamas terrorists on innocent American and Israeli civilians,” Hawley detailed in the October 18 letter, emphasizing it is “imperative that you address this issue immediately to ensure the safety of American citizens, especially Jewish Americans, who are facing increased threats to their physical safety following the Hamas attack.”
Hawley also asked Mayorkas to describe what steps the department has taken to “heighten security standards at the southern border following Hamas’ attack on Israel.”
‘There Could Already Be a Cell in the US Planning the Next Terrorist Attack’
Former border commissioner says weak U.S. border security, combined with America's support for Israel, could trigger a new wave of domestic terror activity.
Hamas's terror attack on Israel is having ripple effects around the world, and the porous U.S. borders are again in the spotlight.
"The same terrorists that just carried out this horrific attack in Israel—their hatred and their unwavering commitment ... to do harm to the United States, is alive and well," Mark Morgan, who served as acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Trump administration, told The Epoch Times.
"Nobody in their right mind can say that our border is secure."
There's a real concern that terrorists have already crossed the U.S. border, particularly within the group of more than 1.6 million illegal immigrants who evaded Border Patrol upon entry and are unknown to officials, Mr. Morgan said.
In the past 11 months, 151 people on the terror watchlist have been arrested by Border Patrol after crossing illegally, while tens of thousands of other "special interest aliens" have entered and been released, he said. "Special interest" means that they hail from countries with direct ties to state-sponsored terrorist groups, including Yemen, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt, and Pakistan.
Another terror attack inside the United States like the 2013 Boston bombing or the 2015 San Bernardino, California, mass shooting and attempted bombing, is imminent, Mr. Morgan warned.
"It's coming. It's coming. No one can predict, but what I will say is, there could already be a cell in the United States planning the next terrorist attack, and we would have no idea," he said. "That's a fair statement; that's not hyperbolic."
FBI Director Chris Wray, in a speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in San Diego on Oct. 14, encouraged law enforcement officers to stay vigilant.
"In this heightened environment, there’s no question we’re seeing an increase in reported threats, and we’ve got to be on the lookout, especially for lone actors who may take inspiration from recent events to commit violence of their own."
Meanwhile, the FBI issued a statement on Oct. 9, saying that it doesn't have "specific and credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States stemming from the Hamas attacks."
The lack of intelligence may not mean a lot, because the attack on Israel showed a "colossal intelligence failure," Mr. Morgan, who also served as an FBI agent for 20 years, said.
He said that a terror event such as Hamas's attack that killed 1,400 Israelis, including children, on Oct. 7 can serve as a trigger event.
"We have people in our own country that are actually supporting Hamas, supporting the actions of babies being decapitated, of being burned alive, of women being savagely raped and videotaped," Mr. Morgan said.
"When you have this deep-rooted, irrational ideology, to be inspired to move to radicalization, then action can be very quick. Generally, it takes an event—and we have that now."
Hamas sympathizers brandishing Palestinian flags stood outside of the White House on Oct. 14 chanting "Free Palestine." Some demonstrators wore head and face coverings commonly associated with jihadist groups.
National security lawyer and regional analyst Irina Tsukerman said much the same about the threat that Hamas agents pose to the United States.
“There is significant pro-Hamas support in the United States already, both among leftist radicals and apologists in academia, and Palestinian activists and their allies, such as the crowds rallying with Hamas in various big cities around the United States in the past few days,” she told The Epoch Times.
“The FBI is wrong. Khaled Meshaal called for his supporters to attack Western and other targets. ... That could well include the United States or at least Jewish and Israeli targets in the United States,” she said.
Mr. Meshaal is the former chief of Hamas. In a cryptic recording sent to international media outlets, initially reported by Reuters on Oct. 11, the terrorist commander said, "To all scholars who teach jihad ... to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application [of theories]."
"Palestine is not Ukraine," the terror group stated.
"Any direct American entrance into the conflict for the crumbling entity [Israel] will make all American positions in the region legitimate targets."
Wave of Mobilization
In Latin America, Hezbollah has quietly been putting down roots for decades, and the U.S. government is aware of it.
In the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel, some intelligence members believe that sympathetic terrorist cells such as Hezbollah, which operate in remote parts of South America, will take a less direct approach to undermining U.S. security interests.
“I see this more as a long-term strategic play,” Evan Ellis, Latin America analyst and professor at the U.S. Army War College, told The Epoch Times.
He said he thinks that the United States could have “serious issues,” exhausting its resources supporting Israel in its conflict with Hamas. Mr. Ellis also pointed to Iran’s recent actions to quietly maneuver and reengage with its “anti-U.S. friends” in Latin America. These nations include Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
“We are on the right side of history, Iran and Venezuela. Together, we will be invincible,” Mr. Maduro said during the signing event.
Mr. Morgan said that it's well known that the regime has "proactively released criminals from Venezuela to encourage them to come to the United States."
"This new war in the Middle East should tell us that global terrorism is alive and well. And they have their tentacles across the entire world. They are trying to radicalize as many people as they can," he said.
Iran also hasn’t been shy about strengthening its connections in Latin America outside of predictable alliances with authoritarian regimes such as Venezuela.
Through its proxy groups in the region, security analysts say that Iran has access to a wealth of funding from illicit activities such as drug and arms trafficking.
"There is some terrorist intent [from Hezbollah], but in general, the pattern seems to be this is an area for raising money and building networks," Mr. Ellis said.
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