A 22-year-old Lebanese migrant, Basel Bassel Ebbadi, was apprehended near the border in El Paso, Texas, last week after attempting to sneak across. During questioning, Ebbadi confessed to being a member of Hezbollah and expressed his intention to "make a bomb" once he reached New York, his ultimate destination. Further investigations revealed that he had received training with Hezbollah for seven years and had served as an active member assigned to guarding weapons for an additional four years. His training with the group focused on "jihad" and targeting non-Muslim individuals.
Despite expressing a desire to leave the group because he "didn’t want to kill people," Ebbadi was placed in isolation and referred to the Tactical Terrorism Response Team for allegedly making terroristic threats. Documents obtained by the New York Post indicated that he was slated for deportation, although the destination country was unspecified.
The issue of border security has been a contentious topic among lawmakers in Washington. House Republicans have criticized the Biden administration and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the chaos at the border, while the White House has cited its efforts to support bipartisan border legislation as a solution to the crisis.
Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection showed a significant increase in border encounters in fiscal year 2024, with nearly 302,000 encounters in December alone. This number surpassed the previous year's total by almost 70,000 and marked a significant rise from the roughly 180,000 encounters in 2022 and 74,000 in December 2021.
As the situation at the border continues to evolve, the debate over border security measures and the handling of illegal migrants remains a focal point for policymakers and officials. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not provide immediate comment on the matter.