TUCSON, Arizona — According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, more than 13,000 migrants the agency considers “Special Interest Aliens” have been apprehended by the Border Patrol since October. These migrants include foreign nationals from Turkey, Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and Russia. According to the source, most have been released into the United States to pursue asylum claims.
The source says nearly 4,000 citizens of Turkey have been encountered as they surrendered to Border Patrol agents along the southwest border in less than the first three months of the new fiscal year. According to a recent media report, senior Hamas leaders met in Turkey last week to discuss the next steps in the Israeli-Hamas conflict. According to the Jerusalem Post report, Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas Saleh al-Arouri, who resides in Beirut, and former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal, who lives in Qatar, and several other senior Hamas officials attended.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long supported Hamas and hosted meetings with the leadership of Hamas. In 2020, Erdogan hosted a similar meeting with Hamas leadership in Istanbul, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Trump administration’s State Department.
The U.S. State Department, then headed by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, issued the following statement regarding the meeting held by Erdogan:
The United States strongly objects to Turkish President Erdogan hosting two Hamas leaders in Istanbul on August 22. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU and both officials hosted by President Erdogan are Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The U.S. Rewards for Justice Program is seeking information about one of the individuals for his involvement in multiple terrorist attacks, hijackings, and kidnappings.
The Biden administration has yet to issue a statement on the latest meeting between Erdogan and Hamas.
The source says more than 1,300 Special Interest Aliens from Afghanistan are also included in the more than 13,000 apprehended since October 1. Hamas and the Taliban in Afghanistan have a long-standing relationship rooted deeply in the mutual opposition to the United States and Israeli influence in the Middle East. In 2021, Hamas openly praised the Taliban for their victory in forcing an end to the United States occupation of Afghanistan after the Biden administration’s hasty withdrawal from the country.
More than 600 Russian nationals were also among the group of Special Interest Aliens apprehended since October 1. Like Turkey’s Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also played host to senior Hamas leadership since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Putin likely welcomes the continued conflict in Gaza as it shifts international focus from his invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war there.
The source told Breitbart Texas more than 300 Sudanese nationals were also among the group of Special Interest Aliens apprehended along the southwest border since FY24 began in October. Just two days after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, Sudan reinstated diplomatic ties with Iran. In a joint statement regarding the resumption of diplomatic relations after a 7-year pause, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited joint national interests for bringing the two nations closer.
In October, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on ten key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere — including Sudan. The action targeted members managing assets in a secret Hamas investment portfolio, including Abdelbasit Hamza Elhassan Mohamed Khair, a Sudan-based Hamas financier who, according to OFAC, managed numerous companies in Hamas’s investment portfolio and was previously involved in the transfer of almost $20 million to Hamas.
The nationalities of other Special Interest Migrants apprehended in FY24 include those from countries with a more active role in supporting Hamas and, according to the source, are cause for more alarm. Since October, nearly 500 Special Interest Aliens from Syria, Iran, and Yemen have been apprehended by the Border Patrol.
Within this group are nearly 250 Syrian nationals, 175 citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and nearly 50 nationals of Yemen. The source told Breitbart Texas the situation at the southern border, where nearly 10,000 migrant apprehensions occurred daily during the month of December, is crippling the agency’s ability to conduct meaningful border security operations and also negatively impacts the ability to properly screen Special Interest Migrants.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, approximately 121,000 migrants have been apprehended in the first 15 days of December, contributing to severe overcrowding at Border Patrol facilities. The rush to quickly transport, process, and release migrants who cannot be immediately returned to their home country, including those considered Special Interest Aliens, can result in migrants who may pose a danger to national security being released prematurely.
The Department of Homeland Security has taken steps to facilitate the movement of migrants away from the border as smoothly as possible due to the increase in migrant crossings along the southwest border. At the Tucson International Airport, the DHS Transportation Security Administration has designated a special airport security screening lane for migrants without the requisite photo identification or passports to travel domestically.
The accelerated processing and release of migrants due to the pressures of overcrowding is not without risk, according to the CBP source. In an April 2022 investigative report issued by the DHS Office of the Inspector General, one migrant on the Terrorist Watch List was released by the Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona. The report noted a series of failures by multiple DHS agencies resulted in the failure to conclusively determine that the migrant was on the Terrorist Watchlist, resulting in the release from custody.
The migrant and family members were later encountered attempting to board an aircraft by TSA security screening personnel at the Palm Springs International Airport. Despite the second encounter by DHS personnel, the migrant was ultimately able to travel to Tampa, Florida, and was not rearrested by ICE for more than two weeks.
In the report, Border Patrol agents assigned to process migrants at the Central Processing Center (CPC) in Yuma revealed the inherent security risk of dealing with a significant surge in migrant crossings. The unidentified agents told investigators, “The Yuma CPC was over capacity following an increase in apprehensions, which created pressure to quickly process migrants and decreased the time available to review each file.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
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