The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday that an Afghan national on the U.S. terrorist watch list has been retaken into custody after previously being captured at the U.S.-Mexico border and released onto U.S. soil twice.
Mohamed Karwan is a member of Hizb-e-Islam, the group responsible for attacks in Afghanistan that killed at least nine U.S. soldiers and civilians from 2013 to 2015, the terror watch list shows. NBC reported.
Kirwan was first arrested in March 2023 near San Ysidro, California, after entering the United States illegally.
DHS officials told Fox News that Kirwan was not on the terrorist watch list at the time of his arrest and was referred to ICE and released on Alternative Detention (ATD). At the time of the suspect’s arrest, there was “no conclusive information” that would place him on the FBI’s terrorist watch list, officials said.
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This aerial photo taken in September 2023 shows the U.S.-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California. Kirwan entered the U.S. in March 2023 in the region, DHS officials said. (Sandy Huffaker/AFP via Getty Images)
Eleven months later, in February 2024, Kirwan was officially added to the FBI’s terrorism watch list after “derogatory” new information developed about him, multiple DHS officials told Fox News. Ta. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was notified, and ICE arrested him in San Antonio in February, sources said.
During a court appearance two weeks ago, Homeland Security prosecutors did not tell a federal immigration judge that the Afghan national was on a terrorist watch list, posed a potential national threat, and was a flight risk. I just claimed. DHS cannot reveal what it did or did not say in court, and the department is limited in what it can tell the judge, a senior DHS official told Fox News.
A judge ordered him released on bail, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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A Hizb Islamic soldier looks out over northern Kabul from a destroyed room in Darulman Palace, Afghanistan, in May 1993. (Terrence White/AFP/Getty Images)
As of Friday, Kirwan was remanded in custody with a court appearance scheduled for next year.
The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News late Thursday night that “Law enforcement is closely following this case due to the public safety risk it poses,” adding, “The individual is currently in U.S. custody.” “It has been done,” he said.
“DHS takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that individuals entering the country do not pose a threat to national security. When an individual poses a threat to national security or public safety, we deny entry and detain them. , deport them, or refer them to law enforcement. If appropriate, we will refer them to other federal agencies for further scrutiny, investigation, and/or prosecution,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Screening is a check at a point in time in which the U.S. government evaluates the information available to it at that time. An individual entering the country is concerned with information that indicates a potential national security or public safety concern. If this is later determined, DHS and our federal partners have procedures in place to investigate and take appropriate action.”
Hizb-i-Islam leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar addresses supporters at a rally in Kabul, Afghanistan, in May 2017.
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The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center describes Hizb-e-Islam, or the Islamic Party, as “an Afghan political and paramilitary organization founded in 1976 by former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who later He is a prominent figure in various Afghan conflicts.” Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is an offshoot of the original Hizb-e-Islami, a fiercely anti-Western rebel group whose goal is to replace the Western-backed Afghan government with an Islamic-based state. “We operate on the basis of Sharia, which is in line with Mr. Hekmatyar’s vision of a Pashtun-dominated Afghanistan,” it said, adding, “His group carries out attacks against coalition forces, Afghan government objectives, and Western interests in Afghanistan.” “We are doing so,” he added.
Fox News’ David Spunt and Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.
