Evidence found over the years that the United States’ southern border near El Paso, Texas, is used as a springboard by Islamic terrorists to enter the country illegally was recently confirmed by a government watchdog group via a captured ISIS fighter.
After initially discovering evidence that Islamic terrorists were breaking over the U.S.-Mexico border five years ago during its longstanding investigation, Judicial Watch provided more confirmation that ongoing practice is taking place with the testimony of captured ISIS fighter, who revealed details about jihadists illegally entering America to set up future attacks.
“The terrorists begin their journey in Central America and exploit vulnerabilities in the Mexican border to reach the U.S., according to Abu Henricki – an ISIS soldier captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in Rojava, Syria,” Judicial Watch revealed in its blog. “Henricki and 160 of his fellow terrorists were interviewed at length by a research group called the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism. The nonpartisan organization published its findings recently in an alarming report that includes a video of the interview with the captured terrorist, who is Canadian and has dual Trinidadian citizenship.”
Direct from the terrorist’s lips …
Henricki elaborated on his fellow ISIS terrorists’ plot.
“They were going to move me to the Mexican side [of the U.S. southern border] via Puerto Rico,” Henricki explained, according to Judicial Watch. “This was mastermind[ed] by a guy in America – where he is, I do not know. That information, the plan came from someone from the New Jersey state from America. I was going to take a boat [from Puerto Rico] into Mexico. He was going to smuggle me in – I don’t know where I’d end up.”
Researchers informed in the report that in order to break into the U.S., the jihadists first traveled to Syria, where they were launched to begin their infiltration via numerous migration routes.
“Whatever one thinks of President Donald Trump’s heightened rhetoric about the U.S.-Mexico border and his many claims that it is vulnerable to terrorists, ISIS apparently also thought so, as knowledge of this ISIS plot came from the mouth of a now-repentant ISIS cadre,” the report asserts.
This corroborates what the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group was saying for years as it continued its probe into jihadists – asserting they were creating a national security crisis by penetrating America’s vulnerably porous southern border.
“[We] interviewed local, state and federal law enforcement officials – as well as U.S. and Mexican military sources – and ha[ve] traveled to remote Mexican border towns to interview American ranchers,” Judicial Watch reported. “When the Central American caravan got started last fall, Judicial Watch deployed an investigative team to the Guatemala-Honduras border after Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales confirmed that nearly 100 ISIS terrorists had been apprehended in the impoverished Central American nation.”
Pinpointing the exact penetration point, it becomes evident America has more than in immigration crisis on its hands, but a serious national security terrorist threat.
“Judicial Watch’s reporting has confirmed that ISIS has a training cell just a few miles from El Paso, Texas, in an area known as ‘Anapra’ – situated just west of Ciudad Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua,” the blog continued. “We also verified that Mexican drug cartels are smuggling foreigners from countries with terrorist links to stash areas in a rural Texas town (Acala) near El Paso. Back in 2014, Judicial Watch reported that four ISIS soldiers – who entered the U.S. through the Mexican border – were arrested in McAllen and Pharr, Texas.”
Nothing new …
Evidence pointing to El Paso as a bridge for terrorism to enter the U.S. has been mounting for years.
“Two years ago, Judicial Watch exposed a plot involving Mexican drug traffickers that help Islamic terrorists stationed in Mexico cross into the U.S. to explore targets for future attacks,” the watchdog group recounted. “Among the jihadists that travel back and forth through the porous southern border is a Kuwaiti named Shaykh Mahmood Omar Khabir – an ISIS operative who lives in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, not far from El Paso. Khabir trained hundreds of Al Qaeda fighters in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen and at the time, [he] lived in Mexico for more than a year, according to information provided to Judicial Watch by high-ranking Homeland Security officials. Khabir trains thousands of men – mostly Syrians and Yemenis – to fight in an ISIS base situated in the Mexico-U.S. border region near Ciudad Juárez, the intelligence gathered by Judicial Watch’s sources reveals.”
That year – in 2017 – a warning was issued by state officials that “the current terrorism threat to Texas has elevated,” noting its discovery of a number of ISIS camps located just south of the Rio Grande River.
“We are especially concerned about the potential for terrorist infiltration across the U.S.-Mexico border – particularly as foreign terrorist fighters depart Syria and Iraq and enter global migration flows,” the Texas Public Safety Threat Overview announced.
Previous administrations – both Democratic and Republican – acquired intelligence that jihad has been entering the Southwest border.
“In fact, Judicial Watch uncovered State Department records confirming that – for more than a decade – the government has known that ‘Arab extremists’ are entering the country through Mexico with the assistance of smuggling network ‘cells,’” the blog informed. “Among them was a top Al Qaeda operative wanted by the FBI. Some Mexican smuggling networks actually specialize in providing logistical support for Arab individuals attempting to enter the United States, the government documents obtained by Judicial Watch say. The top Al Qaeda leader in Mexico was identified in the September 2004 cable from the American consulate in Ciudad Juárez as Adnan G. El Shurkrjumah.”
Evidence of the ongoing threat has surfaced again and again.
“Just last year a Jordanian man was arrested by federal authorities for smuggling six citizens of Yemen – an Al Qaeda hotbed – into the U.S. through Mexico,” the watchdog blog concluded. “The smuggler – 31-year-old Moayad Heider Mohammad Aldairi – conspired with others to sneak the six Yemeni nationals across the Texas border for a fee, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) statement. Weeks later, a group of migrants from a terrorist nation managed to infiltrate the U.S. through Mexico – though the Border Patrol subsequently apprehended the men. All were from Bangladesh – a south Asian Islamic country that’s well known as a recruiting ground for terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Earlier in the year, Judicial Watch had reported on the epidemic of Bangladeshi nationals getting smuggled into the country via the porous southern border – especially through Texas.”
Leaving evidence behind …
Earlier this year, abandoned Islamic prayer rugs found by ranchers and farmers along the Southwestern border provided more proof that a jihadist invasion is underway.
“There’s a lot of people coming in not just from Mexico,” an American border rancher told the Washington Examiner in January. “People – the general public – just don’t get the terrorist threats of that. That’s what’s really scary. You don’t know what’s coming across. We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal. It’s not just Mexican nationals that are coming across.”
That rancher and others make no mistake about their discoveries, and they are fearful that they will be targets if word gets out about the origin of their discoveries.
“[The] rancher … asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by cartels who move the individuals,” the Examiner noted. “The [discovered] mats are pieces of carpet that those of the Muslim faith kneel on as they worship.”
Written by Michael F. Haverluck for One News NOW ~ June 13, 2019