A Lebanese migrant who was arrested while crossing the border confessed that he was a member of Hezbollah and was planning to make a bomb and revealed that his destination was New York. Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, was intercepted by border patrol agents on March 9 close to El Paso, Texas.
While in custody, when asked about his intentions in the US, he reportedly said: "I'm going to try to make a bomb," as per a Border Patrol document. According to ICE records reviewed by the New York Post, Ebbadi said that he trained with Hezbollah for seven years, before taking on a role guarding weapons locations for four years.
Targeting New York with Bombs
Ebbadi's training was centered on "jihad" and killing "those that was not Muslim," he said. Record numbers of people are crossing the border illegally, and border agents continue to see an increase in the number of migrants whose names are on the terror watchlist entering the US.
Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah has fired missiles into northern Israel in response to an attack by Hamas on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of approximately twelve IDF troops and seven civilians.
According to the ICE paperwork, Ebbadi said they were robbed "with a knife" in Costa Rica and entered the country without any documentation.
Additionally, he acknowledged that this year he had used a false identity and birthday in Ecuador, Panama, and Sweden, the countries he claimed his father lived in. He said that his initial plan was to travel to New York and then the rest of the nation.
Ebbadi made "terroristic threats to personnel," for which he was immediately placed in isolation and referred for an interview with the Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT).
Major Threat Avoided
He faced deportation from the US, but the destination country was uncertain. Hezbollah, recognized by Western nations as a terrorist organization, is a Lebanese Shiite Islamist political and militant group.
Members of the group killed three US soldiers in a drone strike in late January in Jordan. At least 34 others sustained injuries.
The influx of migrants arriving at the southern border has persisted for much of President Joe Biden's term, resulting in millions of people entering the country and putting pressure on urban areas.
By September, it's expected that America will be contending with over 8 million asylum seekers and migrants who will have crossed the southern border.
This dramatic increase of 167 percent over five years highlights the difficulties posed by an immigration system that is both underfunded and outdated.
The majority of the 8 million migrants are now unrestricted in their movement within US cities, among them being 2 million deemed 'high-priority' cases, including career criminals seeking asylum.
The immigration system seems overwhelmed by the rapid influx of migrants crossing the border, which peaked at a record-breaking 302,000 monthly crossings in December.
Due to the backlog, millions of migrants currently living in the US are uncertain about their future, unsure whether they will be allowed to remain or face deportation.
