“Middle Eastern Nationals Apprehended at US Southern Border”
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained two Lebanese individuals at the southern border on Thursday, marking the latest instance in a series of attempts by Middle Eastern “special interest aliens” to cross the border this week, as reported by Fox News.
This week, one specific border sector witnessed the apprehension of 19 Iranians, 17 Syrians, in addition to the Lebanese individuals. These developments have sparked concerns regarding the potential for a terrorist attack in the United States, possibly linked to the recent massacre in Israel carried out by the terrorist organization Hamas.
Former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, earlier this week, called for a global day of anger in support of the individuals who laid siege to Israel, slated for Friday. The Lebanese individuals, both in their twenties, are currently undergoing thorough vetting by the FBI. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines “special interest aliens” as non-U.S. persons who, based on travel patterns, may pose a national security risk to the United States or its interests.
According to the Fox News report, these two individuals are among 164 Lebanese nationals encountered by CBP from October 2021 up to this point in October. Additionally, CBP encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan, 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran, and 538 from Syria.
It is noteworthy that both Hamas, operating in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a terrorist group in Lebanon, have ties to and receive funding from Iran. A threat assessment from the Department of Homeland Security last month warned that “terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.”
Former CBP acting Commissioner Mark Morgan expressed concerns about the surging number of illegal migrants at the southern border, highlighting the potential for hidden terrorist cells similar to those activated in the recent attacks in Israel. He emphasized that, in the past 32 months, there have been 1.6 million “got-aways” at the southern border, individuals who have evaded detection, and stressed the need to be vigilant about the possibility of terrorist planning cells operating within the United States without detection.
