EL PASO, TEXAS - MARCH 13: In an aerial view, immigrants pass through coils of razor wire while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on March 13, 2024 in El Paso, Texas. The wire was placed by the troops as part of Texas Governor Greg Abbott's "Operation Lone Star" to deter migrants from crossing into Texas. The vast majority of immigrants, however, manage to pass through it, and are then permitted to turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents, usually to request asylum. The border between the two nations stretches nearly 2,000 miles, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and is marked by fences, deserts, mountains and the Rio Grande, which runs the entire length of Texas. The politics and controversies surrounding border and immigration issues have become dominant themes in the U.S. presidential election campaign. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
  • Basel Bassel Ebbadi, a 22-year-old Lebanese migrant, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, after illegally crossing the border and admitting to being a member of Hezbollah with intentions to construct a bomb in New York.
  • He revealed in a sworn interview his extensive involvement with Hezbollah, including seven years of training focused on jihad and an additional four years guarding weapon locations, highlighting indoctrination toward violence against non-Muslims.
  • Border agents recorded 98 encounters with terror watchlisted individuals at both the northern and southern borders in fiscal year 2022, and almost twice as many, 172, in fiscal year 2023. 
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