President Joe Biden’s disaster at the southern U.S. border was amplified again with a report about an Afghan migrant on the terror watchlist roaming America after entering the country illegally.
It was reported that 48-year-old Mohammad Kharwin is on the FBI’s national terrorist watchlist as “a member of Hezb-e-Islami, or HIG, a political and paramilitary organization that the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.” Despite this description, he was free to move about in the U.S. after being released by Border Patrol agents last year, NBC News reported.
“The man was arrested in February and then released last month again by an immigration judge who was not told he was a national security threat,” the media outlet noted.
U.S. officials told NBC News that Kharwin had been freed on bond while waiting for a scheduled immigration hearing in Texas next year. A Homeland Security spokesperson told the news outlet that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Kharwin into custody again on Thursday.
One source said that “based on the information currently available, there is no reason to believe this individual entered the country as part of a terrorist mission.”
NBC News reported:
After it processed Kharwin and took his biometric data, Customs and Border Protection released him as it would any other migrant, without alerting Immigration and Customs Enforcement about possible terrorism ties, U.S. officials said.
Kharwin was referred to ICE’s Alternatives to Detention Program, requiring him to check in periodically by phone with an ICE officer. He was able to apply for asylum and work authorization and fly domestically in the U.S., the officials said.
“At the time of the initial encounter, the information in the record could not have provided a conclusive match,” a DHS spokesperson told NBC. “As soon as there was information to suggest that this individual was of concern, he was taken into custody by ICE. Law enforcement has been tracking the matter closely to protect against public safety risks.”
Some of the information on the migrant was not shared when he appeared before a judge in Texas last month. Instead, prosecutors explained that Kharwin was a potential flight risk but failed to raise the national security risk he posed.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin noted Thursday that Kharwin “was not on the terror watchlist when he was arrested at the border last year, and that Border Patrol didn’t release him, he was referred to ICE and ICE released him on ATD (alternatives to detention). ”
UPDATE: Multiple senior DHS officials tell me & @GriffJenkins that the Afghan was not on the terror watchlist when he was arrested at the border last year, and that Border Patrol didn’t release him, he was referred to ICE and ICE released him on ATD (alternatives to detention).…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 12, 2024
Melugin updated to note the statement from DHS after the initial NBC News report which they called “inaccurate” and disclosed that the Afghan migrant was back in custody.
NEW: In a statement to @FoxNews, DHS is taking issue with @NBCNews reporting, and now says the Afghan is back in federal custody. pic.twitter.com/RFu7Ymr2Yl
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 12, 2024
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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