One of two men from the country of Jordan who allegedly tried to infiltrate the Quantico Marine Corps base was initially allowed into the country on a student visa, according to a Fox News report.
The other man had recently crossed into the country through the southern border illegally despite reportedly being on the terrorist watch-list. The first man was also in the country illegally after overstaying his student visa, Fox News reported, citing Department of Homeland Security sources.
The attempted infiltration of Quantico allegedly occurred in May 3, but was concealed from the public until local news outlet Potomac Local uncovered it last week. The Marine Corps then acknowledged that the men–who posed as Amazon delivery drivers and then allegedly defied instructions to stop and drove onto the base anyway–were in the country illegally, but refused to confirm whether one was on the terrorist watchlist.
Use of so-called F-1 student visas has grown during the Biden administration, with nearly half a million issued in 2023, an increase of 8.5% compared to the previous year, according to ApplyBoard. The growth came from Africa and East Asia, while numbers from Europe and Latin America shrank. A second class of student visas, M visas, also adds to the numbers.
According to DHS data, there are currently 15,000 students from Saudi Arabia, 12,000 from Pakistan, and 12,000 from Iran — more than the number from the United Kingdom. There are 3,500 from Jordan, more than the 2,500 from Israel.
Video of campus protests, which have often violated local laws, show many foreign students espousing radical Islamist beliefs, and attempting to influence U.S. policy to be more in line with their own countries. Without the foreign students, the protests and anti-Semitism on campus might not have ever gained a critical mass.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has said that federal law requires DHS to deport foreign nationals who support or endorse terrorist activity. “I write to urge you to immediately deport any foreign national—including and especially any alien on a student visa — that has expressed support for Hamas and its murderous attacks on Israel,” he wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mayorkas declined to assure Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) that he would.
Authorities have refused to name the two men from Jordan out of “privacy” concerns, Fox News reported. It also denied a public records request for the number of people on the terrorist watchlist who crossed into the country illegally from each country, citing the “privacy interests” of the suspected terrorists.