Authorities along the U.S.-Mexico border are being warned by the San Diego Field Office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to keep an eye out for "foreign fighters" connected to the terrorist groups waging war against Israel for the last two-plus weeks, another sign that the border crisis has wide-ranging national security implications.
First reported by the Daily Caller News Foundation's Jennie Taer, the "Situational Awareness" bulletin sent Friday is titled "Foreign Fighters of Israel-Hamas Conflict May Potentially be Encountered at Southwest Border" and is marked "unclassified/law enforcement sensitive."
The bulletin explains:
San Diego Field Office Intelligence Unit (SDFO-FITU) assesses that individuals inspired by, or reacting to, the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt to travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border.
Foreign fighters motivated by ideology or mercenary soldiers of fortune may attempt to obfuscate travel to or from the US to or from countries in the Middle East through Mexico.
Among the items border agents are advised to watch for are military patches for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hezbollah terrorist organizations — all funded by the regime in Iran.
Other possible indicators are military age males, military gear including weapons, camouflage, and the previously mentioned terror group patches, single travelers, and those with undetermined return plans or associations to Israel, the Palestinian territories or regional affiliations.
Agents are also given "questions of interest" to ask potential suspects with ties to the terrorist organizations to probe whether individuals have any "association with military or security services or government civilian agencies?" or "personal or familial association with Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) or any other similar groups?"
NEW: Per CBP sources, CBP’s San Diego field office sent out this internal intel bulletin on Friday, alerting officers that Hamas, Hezbollah, & Palestinian Islamic Jihad foreign fighters inspired by the Israel conflict may be encountered at the U.S. southern border. Gives officers… pic.twitter.com/vBw5tv7lXg
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 23, 2023
It's unsurprising that there's growing fear that terror-linked individuals may be seeking to take advantage of the border crisis after a record-setting number of apprehensions and "gotaways" have been recorded on the Biden administration's watch, including an alarming number of individuals whose names matched with people listed in U.S. terror watch lists.
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