Authorities announced Friday that dozens of illegal immigrants from countries linked to large-scale terrorist activities have been intercepted at the southern Texas border over the past week.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers encountered two large groups of migrants. The first of 230 illegal immigrants was arrested on September 30th.
The group included 27 people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt and India, the DPS statement said. They were turned over to federal authorities.
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Aerial view of migrants near the Texas-Mexico border. Officials said some of the groups included nationals of countries with large-scale terrorist activities. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
“This type of activity, the attempted illegal crossing between ports of entry by people from areas that are hotspots for terrorist activity, clearly highlights the concerns of Governor Abbott and the state of Texas,” DPS Secretary D. said Stephen McCraw. “These are not illegal immigrants seeking asylum. They are people trying to enter the United States undetected and potentially trying to harm us.”
Countries of special interest are countries that carry out large-scale terrorist activities.
A further 41 people from the first group were arrested for trespassing. They were nationals of Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic.
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Illegal immigrants are stopped by Texas authorities at the southern border. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
A second group of illegal immigrants was discovered Wednesday just north of the border town of Eagle Pass. Of the 135 people arrested, 13 were from Türkiye and one from China, authorities said. In another arrest, authorities detained South African national Umar Farooq Ashraf on September 21.
He was among a group of 15 illegal immigrants who crossed the border with Mexico into Normandy, Texas.
Officers were alerted by a terrorism screening center that Ashraf may have ties to known terrorists or terrorist suspects. He remains in custody on suspicion of trespassing.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its annual threat assessment this week, warning about immigrants with terrorist ties.
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“Over the coming year, we expect some individuals with ties to terrorism and some criminal actors to continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States,” the assessment said. states. The report continued: “Individuals with possible ties to terrorism continue to attempt to enter the mainland through the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders and through the immigration system.”
