Challenging Islamic Extremism - Promoting Dialogue
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Which Country Is Supplying The Electricity
To Light The Above Tunnel?
The U.S., Mexico Or Both?
Which Country Is Supplying The Electricity
To Light The Above Tunnel?
The U.S., Mexico Or Both?
Ryan Mauro, National Security Analyst for The Clarion Project —The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed reports that Islamic State (commonly known as ISIS) social media accounts are talking about infiltrating the U.S. through the Mexican border, but says it has no intelligence about a specific plot.
In late August, it was reported that a warning bulletin had been issued to security personnel near the U.S.-Mexico border about an impending attack by the Islamic State using car bombs. The report stated that the Islamic State had established a presence in Juarez, Mexico, a city near Texas devastated by drug cartels.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reacted by denying the report, with a spokesperson saying, “We are aware of absolutely nothing credible to substantiate this claim.”
However, a Texas Department of Public Safety bulletin dated August 28 was then leaked that stated that the Islamic State’s social media accounts were discussing entering the U.S. through Mexico in order to carry out an attack.
“Social media account holders believed to be ISIS militants and propagandists have called for unspecified border operations, or they have sought to raise awareness that illegal entry through Mexico is a viable option,” it states.
It says that 32 Islamic State accounts on Twitter and Facebook discussed a possible attack via Mexico in a one-week period. One of those is an account operated by an Islamic State supporter in Mosul, Iraq.
Border Patrol agents anonymously told a reporter in Texas they had been given information about the Islamic State looking for facilitators in Nuevo-Lavado, Mexico.
DHS Undersecretary for Intelligence Francis Taylor confirmed the information when questioned by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), admitting, “There have been Twitter, social media exchanges among (ISIS) adherents across the globe speaking about that as a possibility.”
The DHS later stated that Taylor’s statement was not a reversal of its previous statement.
“There is no credible intelligence to suggest that there is an active plot by ISIL [an alternative acronym for ISIS] to attempt to cross the southern border,” it said.
The language of the initial DHS denial gave the impression that the entirety of the report was inaccurate. It was designed to make readers dismiss its contents. A truly honest answer would have acknowledged online Islamic State communications but cautioned that there is not solid information about Islamic State members actively trying to sneak into the U.S. via Mexico.
The poor security on the U.S.-Mexico border has become a major political issue in light of the campaign against the Islamic State. Concern is especially high about Americans and Europeans that have joined the group and retain passports and visas allowing them to re-enter the U.S and carry out an attack.
A jihadist who killed four people in a shooting at a Jewish museum in Belgium on May 24 had fought in Syria. He held Western hostages for the Islamic State, including a French journalist who later identified him. The British Prime Minister says there have been about six Islamic State terror plots in Europe.
At least three Americans have died fighting alongside the Islamic State and over 100 Americans have joined jihadist groups in Syria. Other officials have put the number as high as 300. At least seven Americans have been arrested as they tried to leave the country to join the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda in Syria. An eighth sought to join Hezbollah.
The Pentagon believes a dozen Americans are with the Islamic State right now. The number is probably low, considering that the CIA underestimated the strength of the Islamic State by up to 300%. It is now believed that the group has 20-31,000 fighters. At least 2,000 of them are Westerners.
Associates and members of Islamist terrorist groups are known to operate in Mexico and have previously penetrated the border. A leaked confidential law enforcement report in 2010 revealed that Mexico had arrested a group of 23 illegal immigrants from Somalia in January that were headed to America. Only 16 were identified. One of them, Mohamed Osman Noor, was linked to Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda’s branch in Somalia. The group was accidentally released.
A prison convert to Islam in Virginia named Anthony Joseph Tracy was arrested in 2010 and sentenced for helping to smuggle 272 Somalis into the U.S. He helped them get visas to Cuba so they could then enter South America and arrive in America through Mexico.
Tracy admitted to being approached by Al-Shabaab, but he claimed that he turned them away. He reportedly failed a lie detector test when asked if he snuck members of the terrorist group into the U.S. Officials said they believed that the Somalis are in America but they have not been identified or located.
In November 2010, a Somali named Ahmed Muhammad Dhakane admitted to running a human smuggling ring and working with two Somali terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda, Al-Ittihad Al-Islami (which he was a member of) and al-Barakat. Dhakane himself came to the U.S. illegally through Mexico.
From 2006 to 2008, Dhakane lived in Brazil and snuck people into America until he was arrested in Texas. He charge at least $3,000 per person and was known to have made up to $75,000 in one day. Prosecutors said he told them that he did not know the agendas of those he smuggled, but “he believed they would fight against the U.S. if the jihad moved from overseas locations to the US mainland.”
In 2011, the U.S. foiled a plot by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to kill the Saudi ambassador by blowing up a restaurant in Washington, D.C., among other targets. Buried in the headline was the fact that the IRGC viewed a Mexican drug cartel as central to the planned wave of attacks.
The Iranian agents discussed delivering opium to the Zetas drug cartel. In exchange, the traffickers would help bomb the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. and the embassies of Saudi Arabia and Israel in Argentina.
On June 23, 2010, Rep. Sue Myrick (R-SC) wrote a letter to the DHS warning that a senior Mexican military officer told her that Hezbollah was giving explosives training to members of drug cartels. She said, “This might lead to Israel-like car bombings of Mexican/USA border personnel or National Guard units in the border regions.”
Only a few weeks later, a drug cartel detonated a car bomb in Juarez near the U.S. border and killed a policeman and a doctor who were baited into coming to the scene. It was described as having “the same kind of sophistication that is used by terrorist groups like Hezbollah.”
According to a Tucson Police Department memo from September 2010, a member of Hezbollah was arrested in Tijuana, Mexico a couple of months prior. His job was to set up logistics for the terrorist group.
The memo also recalls the April 2010 arrest of Jamal Yousef in New York City. He said that he and his cousin were smuggling weapons from Iraq to Mexico for Hezbollah. Yousef claimed that he delivered 100 M-16 assault rifles, 100 AR-15 rifles, 2500 hand grenades, C4 explosives and anti-tank weaponry.
Credible testimony about cooperation between Hezbollah and Mexican drug cartels goes back as far as 2009. Former Drug Enforcement Agency Operations Chief Michael Braun warned that Hezbollah is in Mexico and using “the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartels.”
Islamist terrorists have been exploiting the border for years before the Islamic State burst onto the scene. It is naïve to the highest degree to believe that the Islamic State and others won’t try to exploit one of America’s most well-known and tempting vulnerabilities.
About the AuthorRYAN MAURO is the National Security Analyst for the Clarion Project, a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the threat of Islamic extremism and provides a platform for voices of moderation and tolerance within the Muslim community. » Full Bio
About Clarion Project
There are times that require people to step out of their comfort zone, to step up for justice, tolerance and moderation. We know going in that the repercussions of taking action will draw a rain of accusations and attacks from the forces we are confronting.We do it anyway. We do it because it must be done.
Founded in 2006, the Clarion Project (formerly Clarion Fund Inc) is an independently funded, non-profit organization dedicated to exposing the dangers of Islamic extremism while providing a platform for the voices of moderation and promoting grassroots activism.
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