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CBP arrested two Yemeni men on FBI terror watchlist at the border this year

Customs and Border Protection publishes press releases every day about significant activity at the border.

Today they published a release saying they have arrested two Yemeni men at the border this year, both were on a no fly list and on the FBI’s terrorism watchlist.

The first incident occurred on January 29, at approximately 1:10 a.m., when agents assigned to the El Centro Station arrested a man for illegally entering the United States. Agents apprehended the man approximately three miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry and transported him to the El Centro Processing Center for immigration and criminal history screening.

Agents conducted records checks, which revealed that the man, a 33-year-old illegal alien from Yemen, was on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List as well as on the No-Fly list.

Additionally, agents found a cellular phone sim card hidden underneath the insole of his shoe.

The detail about the hidden sim card sounds pretty suspicious. I hope the FBI has already tracked down all his contacts. But this particular individual may have already been mentioned. On March 16, Axios reported that three men from Yemen and one from Serbia had been arrested at the border since October 2020. All four men were in the FBI’s terror database. That database is quite extensive. But according to an FBI FAQ, here’s who is on it:

The Terrorist Screening Database, commonly referred to as “the watchlist,” is the U.S. Government’s consolidated database containing sensitive law enforcement and national security information concerning the identity information of those who are known to be or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activities.

So the man apprehended in January is likely one of the three Yemeni men mentioned in the Axios report. However, the second person mentioned in today’s press release was only caught last week (after the Axios report).

The second incident occurred on March 30, at approximately 11:30 p.m., when agents assigned to the El Centro Station arrested a man for illegally entering the United States. Agents apprehended the man approximately two miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry and transported him to the El Centro Processing Center for immigration and criminal history screening.

Agents conducted records checks, which revealed that the man, a 26-year-old illegal alien from Yemen, was also on the FBI’s Terrorism Watch List and on the No-Fly list.

The man is being held in federal custody pending removal.

The general drift from Democrats is that we shouldn’t make a big deal out of this but the fact that CBP is now releasing people without even doing the paperwork to find out who they are seems like an open invitation to trouble. And it’s not just people on a terror watch list who represent a threat to the public. Also today CBP put out a separate press release about a convicted murder who was caught after crossing the border illegally. Significantly, this individual had been deported after being convicted of 2nd degree murder in California:

On April 2 at approximately 5 p.m., a citizen called USBP reporting two suspicious men near Marron Valley Road in Dulzura, Calif. Arriving to the reported address, an agent located the two men, who had been walking in harsh terrain for several days. As the agent approached, the men asked for water and explained they became lost after crossing the border. The agent provided water and determined both men had entered the U.S. illegally. The two men were arrested and transported to a nearby Border Patrol station for processing.

At the station, a records check revealed that one of the men, a 45-year-old Mexican national, had been convicted of second-degree murder in California in 2003. At that time, he had been tried, convicted, and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. The man now faces new charges for illegal entry after being previously deported.

I don’t know why this individual chose this moment to cross back into America and I doubt he’d tell the truth if asked. But you have to wonder if it’s really a coincidence that he’s coming across now.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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David Strom 11:20 AM | November 21, 2024
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