Federal immigration authorities have arrested an illegal immigrant wanted in Senegal for alleged terrorist activities, two weeks after he was released from the country following an encounter with agents at the southern border.
In a press release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it arrested on October 17 a 29-year-old man “unlawfully posing as a Mauritanian or Senegalese citizen.”
ICE said he was wanted by Senegalese authorities for criminal conspiracy in connection with a terrorist organization; damage, destruction and damage in connection with a terrorist organization; direct incitement to an armed crowd and acts (or preparatory acts) aimed at compromising public safety.
GRASSLEY RAISES ALARM ON POTENTIAL DRONE THREAT ON SOUTHERN BORDER AMID HAMAS CONCERNS
June 2, 2022: ICE agents conduct an enforcement operation inside the US. ((Immigration and Customs Enforcement))
But he was first encountered on October 3 — two weeks earlier — by Border Patrol agents at the southern border near Lukeville, Arizona. He was then processed by officers and served with a Notice to Appear in New York City and released on his own recognizance.
A week after his release, on Oct. 10, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations agents notified Enforcement and Removal Operations in New York City that he was wanted on terrorism charges in Senegal.
He was then arrested by ICE’s New York City Fugitive Operations team “without incident” outside the Federal Plaza immigration court in New York City. He is now in custody pending deportation proceedings.
“Non-citizens who engage in or are suspected of supporting terrorism are a direct threat to our nation’s national security and will be expeditiously removed from the United States,” ERO New York City Field Office Director Kenneth Genalo said in a statement. “ERO New York City will use every tool at our disposal to keep American citizens and residents safe from those who mistakenly believe they can exploit our immigration laws to escape justice in other countries.”
But the release of a foreign national wanted on terrorism charges abroad is likely to fuel ongoing concerns about terrorists or terror suspects entering the US at the besieged southern border — particularly at situation of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel. Border Patrol agents have expressed concerns to Fox News before that, unless someone has committed a crime in the US, agents may not know a migrant’s criminal history because many countries don’t share their databases. in the US
Republicans have separately expressed concerns about the number of encounters on the southern border terrorist list, which hit a record in FY23, as well as the number of “foreign special interest” encounters – – in addition to the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who evaded agents as “gotaways.”
MAJORCA CONFIRMED OVER 600,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WERE AVOIDED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT AT THE SOUTHERN BORDER LAST FISCAL YEAR
Recently, a CBP memo warned agents about the possibility that foreign fighters linked to terrorist groups like Hamas could try and enter the US — although CBP stressed that it had found no indications of fighters trying to do it.
The Department of Homeland Security’s The fiscal 2024 threat assessment warned that agents encountered an increasing number on the watch list and warned that “terrorist and criminal actors may take advantage of the high-flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States .”
BORDER PATROL ASKED FOR RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON TERROR WATCH LIST AT SOUTHERN BORDER
DHS emphasized that it has “multilayered border security efforts” including screening and vetting, and also said that encounters with known or suspected terrorists are not uncommon.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Our border security efforts include biometric and biographic screening and vetting,” a DHS official said this week. “CBP reviews and evaluates each individual encountered, and if an individual is determined to pose a potential threat to national security or public safety, in coordination with the Joint Terrorism Taskforce (JTTF), we will deny entry , will withhold, remove, or refer them. to other federal agencies for further review and prosecution as appropriate.”
