Smuggling networks at work: Illegal immigrants from terrorism hotbeds sneak into U.S. through Mexico

The U.S.–Mexico border fence near El Paso, Texas(Wikimedia Commons)

The threat of another terrorist attack hitting the United States has become bigger, no thanks to the migrant problem caused by the raging conflict in the Middle East.

Illegal immigrants from Arab countries known to be hotbeds of terrorist activities have managed to sneak into the U.S. through its Mexican border using a smuggling network, The Washington Times revealed in a report.

Internal government documents reviewed by the newspaper showed that U.S. immigration authorities have so far been able to identify at least a dozen men from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Palestine who have been smuggled into the U.S. through the help of the smuggling network based in Brazil which has contacts in Mexico.

Among those who managed to enter the U.S. through these illegal activities is an Afghan man who has been identified by Homeland Security officials to have family ties to the Taliban and was "involved in a plot to conduct an attack in the U.S. and/or Canada."

The newspaper reported that this man is already in the custody of U.S. authorities, but could not be named at present upon the request of law enforcement officials to protect their investigation.

The documents reviewed by The Washington Times were provided by Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter from California. His chief of staff, Joe Kasper, described the findings as "disturbing in so many ways."

"The interdiction of this group ... validates once again that the southern border is wide open to more than people looking to enter the U.S. illegally strictly for purposes of looking for work, as the administration wants us to believe," Kasper told the American newspaper.

"What's worse, federal databases weren't even synced and Border Patrol had no idea who they were arresting and the group was not considered a problem because none of them were considered a priority under the president's enforcement protocol. That's a major problem on its own," he added.