Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an Afghan illegal alien on the FBI’s terrorist watch list this week after reports surfaced that border officials released him into the country nearly a year ago.
Mohammad Kharwin, 48, who illegally entered the U.S. through the southern border, “is a member of Hezb-e-Islami, or HIG, a political and paramilitary organization that the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization,” NBC News reported on Thursday.
The Islamic terrorist group is responsible for killing multiple American soldiers in Afghanistan from 2013 to 2015, according to U.S. officials. The Director of National Intelligence says that Hezb-e-Islami, or “Party of Islam,” is a “virulently anti-Western insurgent group whose goal is to replace the Western-backed Afghan Government with an Islamic state rooted in sharia.”
Officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputed NBC News’ report that Kharwin was on the terrorist watchlist when he entered the U.S. because there was “not conclusive information” to match him to the list, according to a report from Fox News.
Kharwin was arrested by ICE following the publication of NBC News’ report, the report said.
“DHS takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that those who enter the country don’t pose a threat to our national security. If an individual poses a threat to national security or public safety, we deny admission, detain, remove, or refer them to other federal agencies for further vetting, investigation and/or prosecution as appropriate,” a DHS spokesperson also said. “Vetting is a point-in-time check that evaluates information available to the U.S. Government at that time. If individuals who have entered the country are later found to be associated with information indicating a potential national security or public safety concern, DHS and our federal partners have procedures in place to investigate and take appropriate act.”
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The terror suspect spent nearly a year freely roaming the streets of America before he was arrested last month, but he was released again by an immigration judge in the Biden administration’s Department of Justice who was not told of his terrorist ties. He paid his $12,000 bond, was released, and there were “no restrictions on his movements” inside the U.S., NBC News reported.
Kharwin had applied for “asylum and work authorization,” and had flown domestically inside the U.S., the report said.