An illegal immigrant from Lebanon who admitted to being a member of the Hezbollah terror group network is slated to be deported a year after being caught and released into the country under former President Joe Biden’s watch.
Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, was captured by border agents in El Paso, Texas, on March 9, 2024 and immediately held in federal custody. He reportedly told investigators he was going to travel to New York and make a bomb and that his training with the Iran-backed terror network was focused on “jihad” and “killing people that was not Muslim.”
Ebbadi apparently told investigators he had an interest in leaving the group because he “didn’t want to kill people,” though he added that “once you’re in, you can never get out.”
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Nevertheless, Ebbadi was placed in isolation and referred to the Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT) after allegedly making “terroristic threats to personnel.”
“If an individual poses a potential threat to national security or public safety, we deny admission, detain, remove, or refer them to other federal agencies for further vetting, investigation and/or prosecution as appropriate,” a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time.
After illegally entering the United States, Ebbadi was convicted of entering the country illegally and sentenced to five months in federal prison on April 26, the New York Post reported.
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He was finally ordered deported by an immigration judge on Jan. 13 after serving his sentence. Upon entering the U.S., he claimed his documents were stolen somewhere in Costa Rica.
Under the Biden administration, border authorities released 400 suspected terrorists crossing into the U.S. illegally through the southern border, according to the Post. In January 2024, ICE arrested a member of the Somali al-Shabaab terrorist group.
The unidentified suspect entered the U.S. illegally before being caught and released by border authorities in California. The person lived free for nearly a year before being caught in Minnesota.
Among the measures implemented to strengthen the border, the Trump administration has halted the catch-and-release policy that allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country under Biden’s watch.
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