The illegal immigrant convicted of defrauding Taylor Swift&#8217;s husband, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, in a $35 million Ponzi scheme overstayed his visa and had a conviction for another crime, The Daily Wire has learned.
Indian national Siddharth Jawahar, 38, was sentenced last week to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution to the victims, including Kelce and others. During a recent court hearing, Kelce was named as a victim in the case, <a href="https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/09/15/chiefs-tight-end-travis-kelce-named-victim-multi-million-dollar-fraud-case/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to KMOV.
Before his conviction, Jawahar entered the United States on multiple occasions between August 2005 and January 2010, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Daily Wire. He became an illegal immigrant after overstaying a visa.
At one point, Jawahar also had a prior conviction for driving while intoxicated in Texas, DHS said.
Jawahar ran the Texas-based investment firm Swiftarc Capital LLC, which he used to funnel his clients’ money into a single investment, Philip Morris Pakistan (PMP), in 2015, according to the Justice Department. Eventually, PMP held 99% of Jawahar&#8217;s clients’ funds.
When PMP&#8217;s value plunged, Jawahar failed to notify investors and falsely claimed they were making a profit, per the Justice Department. He also led his clients to believe he would invest their money in specific companies, but never actually did.
Jawahar received more than $35 million from Swiftarc investors between July 2016 and December 2023, according to the Justice Department. Only roughly $10 million of those funds were invested.
The Indian national used new investors’ money to repay the older investors. He also used the funds to pay for his personal travel on private jets, luxury hotel stays, a luxury apartment in Austin and New York City, memberships at multiple private clubs across the country, shopping sprees, and expensive meals at fancy restaurants.
After being indicted, Jawahar tried to &#8220;coach&#8221; one of his victims into providing a “favorable” statement to the FBI, the Justice Department said. He also lied about his status as an illegal immigrant and his finances, and tried to have his sister scrub evidence from his phone.
Jawahar pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in January.
He managed more than a dozen other investment firms, according to the Justice Department.
A DHS spokesperson condemned Jawahar&#8217;s actions in a statement that appeared to reference Swift&#8217;s popular music lyrics.
&#8220;This criminal mastermind’s endgame was to steal their money so he could be popping champagne in the lap of luxury, but karma has finally tackled him. Once he completes his sentence, he will be swiftly deported from the United States and live the rest of his life in exile,&#8221; the spokesperson said.
&#8220;Illegal aliens exploiting Americans is nothing new after many years of open borders and sanctuary policies, but the men and women of DHS know all too well how to handle such cases,&#8221; the spokesperson said. &#8220;DHS remains chiefly committed to deporting illegal aliens so that we can prevent such injustices from ever happening again.&#8221;

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EXCLUSIVE: Background Of Illegal Immigrant Who Defrauded Travis Kelce Revealed

department of homeland security

fraud

illegal immigration

taylor swift

travis kelce

Millions of illegal immigrants crossed the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden administration. Now, new data show where some went — and how years of unprecedented mass migration and open border policies reshaped communities across America.
An analysis of federal records<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/border-crossing-immigration-data-mexico-us/"> obtained by The Associated Press</a> traces the self-reported destinations of 4.5 million migrants released into the United States after crossing the Mexican border between October 2018 and July 2025.
The records show illegal immigrants from around the world dispersing far beyond communities along the southern border, reaching major cities, suburbs, and smaller communities with relatively low immigrant populations. The data show millions of migrants from more than 150 countries entered the United States, bringing the nation’s foreign-born population to its highest level ever recorded. 
Venezuelans and Cubans accounted for the largest numbers of migrants in the data, with roughly 773,000 and 539,000 arrivals, respectively. Other Latin American countries also saw significant migration, including Mexico, Honduras and Colombia. Their destinations stretched across the country, with metropolitan areas in California, Texas and Florida emerging as major hubs for illegal immigrants.
The Biden-era surge extended well beyond Latin America, with migrants from India, Africa and the Middle East also flooding into communities across the American heartland.
In Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, large numbers of migrants came from West Africa, Uzbekistan, and India, according to AP. Columbus, Ohio, also saw a significant influx of these migrants, followed by Chicago and the New York City metropolitan area.
California’s Silicon Valley saw a surge of Indian migrants. Haitian migrants, now at the center of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, largely settled in South Florida, Indianapolis, Boston, and New York City, the data shows.
The suburbs south of Salt Lake City attracted huge numbers of Venezuelans, who made up the largest share of migrants released during the seven years.
Chinese migrants gravitated toward America’s biggest cities, with Los Angeles and New York topping the list. Cubans took a different path: nine of their top 10 destinations landed in Florida, according to the AP, while others landed in unexpected corners of Kentucky, Nebraska and Texas. The Denver suburb of Aurora attracted large swaths of Colombians, while Peruvians flocked to Paterson, New Jersey — the<a href="https://www.nps.gov/pagr/learn/historyculture/the-birthplace-of-the-american-industrial-revolution.htm"> birthplace</a> of America’s industrial revolution.
New York City ZIP codes drew migrants from 26 foreign-born groups with at least 1,000 arrivals each. In Queens alone, 34 ZIP codes received migrants from at least 30 different countries. The City of Brotherly Love showed a similar pattern, with 19 ZIP codes across Philadelphia each drawing migrants from at least 30 countries, according to AP data.
More than 40% of migrants released after crossing the border were military-age men, according to the data. But some American communities drew larger numbers of women and children. Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, became a destination for Mexican women and children, while Ecuadorian women and children went to Spring Valley, New York. Guatemalan women went to Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The data doesn’t account for every illegal immigrant but offers a rare glimpse of where millions of migrants went — and how far they spread across America.
In recent months, the Trump administration’s deportation campaign has picked up steam, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers making a record 50,925 arrests in August, according to data the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-arrests-hit-new-record-as-mass-deportation-effort-picks-up-speed">The Daily Wire</a>. August marked the third straight month of record arrests for ICE and the highest monthly total in the agency’s history. The agency made 50,208 arrests in July and roughly 43,000 arrests in June.

US-Mexico Border Fence Impacts Borderlands Environment

Millions Illegally Crossed The Border. New Data Shows Where They Went

border security

joe biden

Smugglers tried to get creative in their efforts to move illegal migrants into the country past President Donald Trump&#8217;s sealed border.
In a recent case, Border Patrol agents in Eagle Pass, Texas, discovered a group of four illegal migrants whom smugglers had trapped in a water tank placed in the bed of a 2007 Ford F-150 pickup truck, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told The Daily Wire. The incident occurred on the evening of September 14 as agents were patrolling a rural highway.
&#8220;Smugglers don’t care for the safety of those they see as mere human cargo,&#8221; Border Patrol Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony “Scott” Good said in a statement.
&#8220;Putting people in confined spaces with no means of escape is dangerous and barbaric. If not for the actions of our highly trained agents, this incident could have resulted in tragedy,&#8221; Good added.
The migrants had no way of escaping the small portable water tank, and the border agents had to use power tools to free them.
Two of the migrants were from Bolivia, one was from Cuba, and another from Colombia. The group declined medical attention and was taken into Border Patrol custody for processing.
The driver was identified as a 19-year-old American man. Border agents turned him over to Homeland Security Investigations to face a charge of alien smuggling.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has ushered in a series of policies, including ending the Biden administration&#8217;s catch-and-release of illegal border crossers, that have resulted in historically low border encounters.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Smugglers packed 31 illegal aliens like cargo into a modified utility truck and hauled them through dangerous desert heat near Ocotillo, California.🌵🥵<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/ElCentroSector?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ElCentroSector</a> agents took the group into custody after the driver abandoned them and fled into Mexico, apparently thinking… <a href="https://t.co/w2iy7KJ490">pic.twitter.com/w2iy7KJ490</a>
— El Centro Sector Border Patrol (@USBPChiefELC) <a href="https://x.com/USBPChiefELC/status/2100294530016903585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As a result, smugglers have sought more creative and often inhumane ways to move their customers across the border to keep their profits.
Border Patrol agents recently discovered &#8220;a modified utility truck&#8221; that smugglers filled with 31 illegal migrants. The driver fled the scene for Mexico, where Mexican authorities nabbed him.
In April, Border Patrol agents from across the country were pulled to assist their colleagues in Laredo, Texas, in handling an uptick in illegal immigrants trying to run from authorities, Department of Homeland Security sources told The Daily Wire at the time.
Smugglers have also loaded small boats with large groups of migrants in recent months in attempts to reach the coasts of California and Florida.

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EXCLUSIVE: Smugglers Try Something Creative To Slip Migrants Past Trump’s Sealed Border

border patrol

human smuggling

texas

An illegal immigrant trucker who was released into the United States during the Biden administration was arrested for a fatal hit-and-run in California months after the crash, when he was found behind the wheel in another state, The Daily Wire is first to report.
The trucker, Indian national Chamkaur Singh, 30, is accused of causing a multi-car pileup in Ontario, California, on March 29 that resulted in the deaths of two individuals before he fled the scene.
Five months later, on September 1, police in Moab, Utah, pulled Singh over in a semi-truck for speeding. The officers then discovered a warrant from California for the deadly collision and took him into custody.
Singh was driving with a California Commercial Driver&#8217;s License (CDL), which was issued on May 10, 2025, after he had already received a deportation order, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Daily Wire. Singh&#8217;s CDL has remained active despite three convictions on his driving record for improper lane or location, following too closely, and speeding.
Before the fatal crash, Singh scaled the border wall in Arizona in August 2021 and was caught by Border Patrol agents, who swiftly released him, according to law enforcement sources. By January 2024, an immigration judge ordered Singh&#8217;s deportation from the United States, according to immigration court records.
He appealed the removal order but has yet to receive a decision on the matter.
While in federal custody after his border crossing, Singh required a Punjabi translator to communicate with agents.
<div id="attachment_1181079" style="width: 250px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1181079" class="size-full wp-image-1181079" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Untitled-design-2026-09-17T154217.049.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="240" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Untitled-design-2026-09-17T154217.049.jpg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Untitled-design-2026-09-17T154217.049-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes=" (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px" />Photo of Chamkaur Singh from his border crossing (DHS)</div>
&#8220;Due to the Biden Administration’s open borders and Gavin Newsom’s sanctuary policies, this criminal was released into our country and granted a commercial driver’s license,&#8221; Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement regarding Singh&#8217;s latest arrest.
&#8220;DHS is calling on Gavin Newsom and other sanctuary politicians to eliminate these deadly sanctuary policies that give handouts to illegal aliens at the cost of American lives. Illegal aliens have no right to be in our country or on our roadways,&#8221; he added.
When the California collision occurred, Singh was approaching an existing crash scene when he rear-ended a sedan, killing a passenger inside the vehicle and leaving the driver critically injured, according to KSL Utah.
Singh then caused a multi-car pileup before continuing to drive onto the right shoulder, the local news channel reported. He then hit a disabled vehicle, causing it to fatally strike a pedestrian.
Two other individuals were also killed in the incident, which involved a firearm, <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2026/09/02/california-truck-driver-wanted/">according to the Salt Lake Tribune</a>, citing local police.
Police bodycam video of the Utah traffic stop showed officers placing Singh in handcuffs and telling him that he was wanted in California.
&#8220;We got in touch with California, San Bernardino County, they confirmed it is you on that warrant, so at this time you are under arrest. So you are going to jail today,&#8221; one officer could be heard telling Singh while he sat in the back of a police car in handcuffs.
Singh appeared to let out an unintelligible sound in response but otherwise did not react in the video.
When Singh crossed the border, he told federal agents via the translator that he left his native India in December 2020 and first headed to Dubai, sources said.
From there, he traveled to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico, where he arrived in July 2021 before entering the United States, sources said. He said he scaled the border wall to make his way into the country.
He said he intended to travel to California to find work, sources said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a detainer for Singh&#8217;s arrest on September 2, asking local authorities to transfer him to federal custody if he is released.
He is currently being held at the Grand County Jail.
The Department of Transportation is now investigating the trucking company that employed Singh, a department official said.

Chamkaur Singh

EXCLUSIVE: Illegal Immigrant Trucker Caught Months After Killing Two People In California Hit-And-Run

california

commercial driver license

gavin newsom

sanctuary policy

Federal immigration agents arrested a Mexican noncitizen charged with voting in multiple American elections as the Trump administration cracks down on the issue.
Homeland Security Investigations agents in El Paso, Texas, took Ludwig Uriel Espejo-Carrillo, a green card holder, into custody on Sept. 3, hitting him with administrative charges for unlawful voting and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship after voting in American elections in 2015, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Espejo-Carillo&#8217;s alleged actions are &#8220;what a threat to our republic looks like.&#8221;
&#8220;We cannot and will not allow the votes of American citizens to be cancelled out by non-citizens illegally voting in our elections,&#8221; Mullin said.
&#8220;Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE, this criminal will be deported from the United States,&#8221; he added.
The Mexican national became a lawful permanent resident under the Obama administration in July 2013, DHS said. He will stay in ICE detention pending his deportation from the United States.
The announcement of Espejo-Carillo&#8217;s arrest comes after the Justice Department charged seven noncitizens for allegedly voting in American elections or falsely claiming United States citizenship to register to vote, according to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
One of the accused, Moises Anwar Arellano‑Alba, a 36-year-old Mexican illegal immigrant, was ordered deported in July.
Federal prosecutors charged Arellano‑Alba after he allegedly claimed to be an American citizen when he applied for a Texas driver&#8217;s license in 2023 and voted early in the 2024 general election in Dallas County despite being a noncitizen and convicted felon.
During his immigration proceedings, Arellano-Alba admitted to voting. The Mexican fugitive surrendered himself to federal agents on Tuesday morning.
&#8220;Federal elections belong to American citizens — period,&#8221; U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said. &#8220;When individuals who are not citizens cast ballots or falsely claim citizenship, they violate federal law, undermine the integrity of our electoral process and erode the public’s confidence in the fairness of our elections.&#8221;
&#8220;These charges send a clear message: We will enforce the law. We will hold offenders accountable. And we will safeguard the voting process for the citizens it is meant to serve,&#8221; Raybould added.
In July, New Jersey officials announced that roughly 6,600 noncitizens had been registered to vote. The state&#8217;s Democratic governor, Mikie Sherrill, blamed it on a &#8220;software error.&#8221;
Citing a &#8220;preliminary analysis&#8221; of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-jersey-registered-thousands-of-non-citizens-to-vote-due-to-software-error">situation</a>, Sherrill previously said that fewer than 400 of the noncitizens who were registered actually voted.
New Jersey is among several states where the Trump administration has faced difficulties when attempting to audit voter rolls to ensure noncitizens are not registered to vote.
The Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-five-additional-states-failure-produce-voter-rolls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> New Jersey and four other states in February over &#8220;failure to produce their full voter registration lists upon request.&#8221;

Untitled design – 2026-09-17T093239.554

ICE Nabs Another Noncitizen Accused Of Voting

immigration enforcement

non-citizen voting

politics

voter fraud

David Brouillette has a history of alleged physical and verbal abuse against his ex-wives and daughters. When he was a child, he was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder, which worsened after he retired from the military, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ice-david-brouillette-johan-guerrero-maine-shooting-dbc30d6d59e2a95fb470afc188e125c6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Associated Press.
Despite his concerning past, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hired Brouillette during a massive recruiting surge to support the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
Shortly after taking the job, Brouillette allegedly fatally shot a Colombian migrant in Biddeford, Maine, in July. The deadly shooting brought Brouillette’s past behavior to light, raising concerns about the accelerated vetting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) adopted at the time for new ICE recruits.
ICE hired 12,000 new officers and agents in the span of roughly four months by offering up to $50,000 in signing bonuses thanks to a flood of cash from President Donald Trump&#8217;s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Now, the feds have started trying to clean up the mess by quietly firing some of the recent recruits after the results of their background checks came back with red flags. Despite the rushed and poor vetting, many of the junior ICE officers were allowed to take to the streets to make arrests, according to several current ICE officers.
The Daily Wire granted the officers anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
When dealing with the now-commonplace combative target or agitator, the officers said they were often left to fend for themselves as the new recruits stood by frozen and unsure of how to conduct themselves.
&#8220;There&#8217;s been a lot of instances where we get into an altercation with subjects that are resistant, and they just watch like they don&#8217;t know what to do, or they just do nothing,&#8221; one source said.
&#8220;They’re sending people out to do these arrests. They have no field experience, like people fresh out of the academy or they’ve only been in detention since they started with ICE, they have no idea what they’re doing in the field. And it’s scary,&#8221; another officer said, adding, &#8220;I&#8217;m counting on you to have my back, but, you know, I&#8217;m seeing all these pre-assault indicators or pre-flight indicators, and you&#8217;re just f*cking standing there. It&#8217;s insane.&#8221;
After months of putting recruits through a speedy 42-day academy, DHS has since extended the training program to last 72 days, an ICE spokesperson confirmed.
During the hiring push, the agency also allowed those with prior law enforcement experience, including those who lacked backgrounds in immigration enforcement, to bypass the in-person ICE academy and participate in an online training program.
The recruits who received the rushed training &#8220;will attend follow-on training at the Advanced Field Officer Training Program,&#8221; where they will take their skills from the original academy &#8220;and apply it to real-life scenarios while on duty,&#8221; the ICE spokesperson told The Daily Wire.
“As we have said all along, ICE training does not end when recruits graduate from the academy. ICE officers go through a rigorous on-the-job training and mentorship,&#8221; the spokesperson said.
One of the officers predicted that &#8220;only 20% to 30%&#8221; of recruits would have made it onto the force had they undergone the full academy.
&#8220;They realized they f*cked up and now we’re dealing with the consequences,&#8221; the officer said, adding: “Now they have to purge the whole agency because they just hired a bunch of f*cking knuckleheads.&#8221;
In a recently surfaced whistleblower complaint, a senior ICE official who was tasked with evaluating thousands of agency applicants shared concerns about the speedy process that they said led “improperly vetted” individuals to join the force, leading to &#8220;grave national security risks.&#8221; The unnamed official said the agency hired some recruits before the completion of their fingerprint, identity, or credit checks, warning that the lax vetting could create an &#8220;increased vulnerability to insider threats, infiltration, and foreign influence.&#8221;
One of the officers who spoke with The Daily Wire recalled observing their new colleagues taking to the streets before they underwent required drug testing.
&#8220;They were getting their phone calls to go through drug tests after they had already freaking entered on duty,&#8221; the source said.
Officers said they also observed the &#8220;infiltration&#8221; by anti-ICE activist groups inside the new recruiting class.
&#8220;Some of these people are f*cking garbage, and I know for a fact that a lot of the Antifa guys and these f*cking liberal Democrats, they apply so they can get the intel on how we do things,&#8221; the officer said.
When the new officers completed their training, whether online or at the in-person academy, some of them were almost immediately sent out to start making arrests without having any real experience in the field.
One ICE officer, who transferred to the agency from Border Patrol, said they completed the virtual academy &#8220;in two hours&#8221; and that others were &#8220;knocking out&#8221; the testing in three days. The officer expressed concerns about the unlimited number of test failures officers were allowed and a self-attested physical fitness assessment.
Others shared that the in-person training did not adequately equip officers with the experience and skills needed to make arrests.
&#8220;The crazy part is when you go do these academies, it&#8217;s great, but it&#8217;s, like, you go to the academy, and they&#8217;re, like, &#8216;all right now, go,'&#8221; an officer said.
“There&#8217;s a severe lack of training with this big hiring push they had. It&#8217;s insane,&#8221; another officer said.
In some ICE offices, junior recruits outnumber the more seasoned personnel, sources said. As a result, the new recruits lack &#8220;mentorship&#8221; from senior officers to show them the ropes.
&#8220;The damage is done,&#8221; one of the officers said.
“I hate to admit it, it was just very much like get warm bodies and just get them out there,&#8221; they added.
The ICE spokesperson said the agency&#8217;s &#8220;Office of Professional Responsibility diligently applies the proper personnel vetting regulations, including guidelines for national security, and evaluates all available information for every applicant based on these factors.&#8221;
Applicants &#8220;may receive&#8221; what is known as a &#8220;Tentative Selection Letter&#8221; after initially submitting their application and undergoing an interview, the spokesperson said. They may also &#8220;receive an offer of temporary status to begin training pending a full background investigation,&#8221; they added.
The spokesperson did not answer questions about whether the agency let new recruits whose background checks weren&#8217;t completed make arrests in the field.

ICE Holds Hiring Event In Arlington, Texas

Trump Is Cleaning House After ICE Hiring Rush Put Unvetted Recruits On The Streets

ice hiring surge

law enforcement

The Daily Wire obtained a chilling photo showing a stone-faced woman wrapped in a hijab whom the Trump administration deported after she planned to carry out an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on Election Day in 2024.
Afghan national <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-deport-terrorist-who-plotted-isis-inspired-election-day-attack-in-first-of-its-kind-case">Nazira Haji Zada</a>, 47, plotted to carry out the mass shooting attack alongside her son and son-in-law, who have both been arrested and convicted, according to the Justice Department. Zada, who resided in Fort Worth, Texas, admitted to being an alien terrorist and waived her right to appeal her deportation order, resulting in the termination of her immigration status.
Zada&#8217;s case was the first to go before the secretive Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), which Congress established in 1996.
“From the moment President Trump took office, he made clear that his Administration would put the safety and security of the American people first,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement regarding the case.
He continued: &#8220;The President’s direction to use the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to expel Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan national who plotted with members of her family to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack on American soil, delivers on that promise. Thanks to the President’s leadership and the coordinated efforts of the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State, Nazira Haji Zada’s final order of removal is now FINAL. Those who plot acts of terrorism against the United States have no place in our country. We will find them, and we will remove them.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1179749" style="width: 246px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1179749" class="wp-image-1179749 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/Untitled-design-2026-09-16T085144.744.jpg" alt="" width="236" height="217" />DHS</div>
The ATRC issued a deportation order for Zada on August 20, which was unsealed last Friday following her removal from the United States.
Before Zada&#8217;s admission to being a terrorist, federal prosecutors used classified information to prove that Zada was an “alien terrorist,” according to the Justice Department. In doing so, they provided the terrorist and her legal team “approximately half a terabyte of documents.&#8221;
Zada’s 17-year-old son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and her 28-year-old son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were arrested on October 7, 2024, after stocking up on firearms and ammunition they planned to use in the attack, federal authorities said. Abdullah entered a guilty plea as an adult and received a 15-year prison sentence.
As part of the plea, Zada&#8217;s son agreed to be deported to Afghanistan following his prison term.
Tawhedi pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism. He has yet to be sentenced.
Tawhedi said he worked with at least one other individual between June 2024 and October 2024 to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and 10 magazines, with the intent to carry out the mass shooting on behalf of ISIS, according to court documents.
Tawhedi communicated with an ISIS facilitator about the plot, asking the unnamed terrorist whether the 500 rounds of ammunition would be sufficient to carry out the attack.
In 2024, the family began selling furniture, computers, a cell phone, and two cars to fund their attack, the Justice Department said. Zada signed a contract to sell off the family’s home.
The terrorist family members purchased one-way airline tickets to Kabul, Afghanistan, before Election Day for Zada and other children.

GettyImages-117290561

SEE IT: Chilling Photo Of ISIS-Inspired Terrorist Who Plotted Election Day Attack

alien terrorist removal court

deportation

election day terror plot

isis

nazira haji zada

Federal authorities deported an ISIS-inspired terrorist who planned a mass shooting attack on Election Day in 2024, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Afghan national Nazira Haji Zada, 47, plotted the attack alongside her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who were previously arrested and convicted. The Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) issued Zada, who lived in Fort Worth, Texas, a deportation order on August 20, which was unsealed Friday following her removal from the United States.
The announcement of Zada&#8217;s deportation comes on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, when al-Qaeda terrorists killed 2,977 people on U.S. soil.
The case was the first ever to go before the secretive court, which Congress <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?edition=prelim&amp;path=%2Fprelim%40title8%2Fchapter12%2Fsubchapter5&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">established</a> in 1996.
“From the moment President Trump took office, he made clear that his Administration would put the safety and security of the American people first,” Secretary Markwayne Mullin of the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Friday. “The President’s direction to use the Alien Terrorist Removal Court to expel Nazira Haji Zada, an Afghan national who plotted with members of her family to carry out an ISIS-inspired attack on American soil, delivers on that promise.&#8221;
&#8220;Thanks to the President’s leadership and the coordinated efforts the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice and State, Nazira Haji Zada’s final order of removal is now FINAL. Those who plot acts of terrorism against the United States have no place in our country. We will find them, and we will use every lawful tool available to remove them,&#8221; he said.
An application to deport Zada was filed on July 15, the Justice Department said. The terrorist appeared in court before ATRC Chief Judge Joan N. Ericksen for the first time on July 30.
Federal prosecutors used classified information to prove that Zada was an &#8220;alien terrorist,&#8221; providing the terrorist and her legal team &#8220;approximately half a terabyte of documents&#8221; to prove their case, according to the Justice Department. She later admitted to being an alien terrorist and waived her right to appeal her deportation order, resulting in the termination of her immigration status.
Zada&#8217;s 17-year-old son, Abdullah, and her 28-year-old son-in-law, Tawhedi, were arrested on October 7, 2024, after they bought firearms and ammunition they planned to use to carry out the attack, federal authorities said. Zada&#8217;s son entered a guilty plea as an adult, receiving a 15-year prison sentence.
In entering into the plea, Abdullah, who is a green card holder, agreed to his eventual deportation to Afghanistan following his imprisonment.
Tawhedi pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and receiving, attempting to receive, and conspiring to receive firearms and ammunition in furtherance of a federal crime of terrorism. He has not yet been sentenced.
Between June 2024 and October 2024, Tawhedi said he worked with at least one other individual to purchase two AK-47 rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and 10 magazines, with the intent to carry out the mass shooting on behalf of ISIS, according to court documents. Tawhedi communicated with an ISIS facilitator about his plans and asked the unnamed terrorist whether the 500 rounds of ammunition would be enough to carry out the attack.
In 2024, the family began selling their property, including furniture, computers, a cell phone, and two cars, to fund their attack, the Justice Department said. Zada also signed a contract to sell the family&#8217;s home.
The terrorist relatives also bought one-way airline tickets to Kabul, Afghanistan, before election day for Zada and other minor children.

INDIA-KASHMIR-MIDEAST-GAZA-STRIKE

Feds Deport Terrorist Who Plotted ISIS-Inspired Election Day Attack In First-Of-Its-Kind Case

An illegal immigrant abducted and sexually assaulted a 6-year-old girl after being cut loose by the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Guatemalan national Lester Noe Perez-Amador, 27, is accused of snatching the child from her home in Washington Borough, New Jersey, around the early morning hours of September 5.
The illegal immigrant knew the child, authorities said. Police located and rescued the young girl as she was running toward her home.
The illegal immigrant crossed the border illegally and sneaked past authorities when he entered the United States, DHS said. The Cameron County Police Department arrested Perez-Amador in March 2024 for DUI.
At the time, local police officers transferred the illegal immigrant to ICE, which released him onto the streets, according to DHS.
Since the kidnapping, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer with local authorities asking them to transfer the illegal immigrant to federal custody for deportation if he is released, according to DHS.
&#8220;We are urging Washington Township authorities to transfer Perez-Amador into ICE custody so we can do what Biden failed to do the first time — get this criminal illegal alien off of our streets and back to Guatemala where he belongs,&#8221; a Homeland Security spokesperson told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;The safest way to arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets is by lodging arrest detainers. Because some sanctuary jurisdictions refuse to work with ICE law enforcement, criminal illegal aliens are released from jails into American communities to perpetuate more crimes. Seven of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE,&#8221; the spokesperson added.
Within 24 hours of receiving a report of the crime, police nabbed Perez-Amador.
He is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a victim under 13, endangering sexual conduct with a child, kidnapping with bodily injury, and home invasion burglary.
&#8220;When a child in our community is at risk, law enforcement responds as one,&#8221; Warren County Prosecutor Jessica L. Cardone said in a statement.
&#8220;I witnessed first-hand as all involved agencies worked with focus on one common goal — to bring this child to safety. Protecting our children is a responsibility we take very seriously, and our commitment does not end with an arrest,&#8221; Cardone added.
The first-degree aggravated sexual assault charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison, according to <a href="https://www.fox5ny.com/news/man-charged-sexual-assault-6-year-old-girl-after-kidnapping-from-nj-home-police">Fox 5</a>. A charge of first-degree kidnapping carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment with 25 years of parole ineligibility, and first-degree home invasion burglary carries up to 20 years.

Pulled over by the police, rear view mirror point of view

Illegal Immigrant Kidnaps, Sexually Assaults 6-Year-Old Child

child sexual abuse

new jersey

Corey Lewandowski, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump who wielded extraordinary influence over the Department of Homeland Security, allegedly offered to help the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates with DHS issues in exchange for private work.
According to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/corey-lewandowski-influence-dhs-43d3fe03?mod=hp_lead_pos7">Wall Street Journal</a>, Lewandowski approached senior Qatari officials with a proposal that the outlet characterized as “Hire me on the side.” He allegedly offered to help Qatar with matters falling under DHS’s jurisdiction, including visa issues. Lewandowski reportedly made a similar pitch to representatives of the United Arab Emirates.
The proposals were ultimately rejected. Some of the foreign officials were reportedly confused by the offers, questioning why they would need Lewandowski’s assistance when they already had established relationships with senior Trump administration officials. 
At the time, Lewandowski was a special government employee serving as a close adviser to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. He effectively operated as Noem’s right-hand man, with a role that gave him influence over enormous sums of taxpayer money, immigration enforcement, and other major department operations. Lewandowski&#8217;s unusual authority was widely attributed to his close relationship with Noem. The two have been the subject of speculation that their relationship was romantic, which they have denied.
The allegations come as the DHS inspector general investigates contracting decisions made during Noem’s tenure and Lewandowski’s role in them. The Journal previously reported that investigators had found evidence that Lewandowski improperly influenced government contracts, and the investigation could potentially result in a criminal referral to the Justice Department. 
A representative for Lewandowski told the Journal that he never sought contracts with foreign governments and denied demanding or soliciting payment or compensation from government contractors. The representative also said Lewandowski played no role in reviewing or approving DHS contracts. “Lewandowski denies any wrongdoing,” the representative said.
The reported foreign-government outreach is only the latest allegation surrounding Lewandowski’s conduct at DHS. While advising Noem, Lewandowski allegedly sought a private meeting with Palantir CEO Alex Karp while DHS was considering a $2.7 billion contract with the company. The meeting never occurred, and the eventual agreement was reduced to $1 billion.
Lewandowski has also faced allegations involving GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison companies and a major DHS contractor. Congressional investigators have examined claims that Lewandowski sought personal compensation from contractors in exchange for favorable treatment.
In March, Democratic senators <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026-03-26-Letter-from-Sen-Blumenthal-and-Sen-Welch-to-Secretary-Mullin.pdf">formally asked</a> DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin for records concerning Lewandowski’s alleged influence over contracts and potential personal financial benefits. In their letter, they said that recent reporting raised questions about whether Lewandowski had “unlawfully steered” contracts to benefit himself and political allies. 
That question became particularly important because the department was responsible for tens of billions of dollars in newly appropriated spending to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-will-soon-get-more-money-than-the-fbi-have-capacity-for-a-million-annual-deportations">expand immigration enforcement under the One Big Beautiful Bill.</a> Noem had centralized much of DHS’s spending authority, namely putting virtually all department expenditures above $100,000 under the secretary’s purview. The arrangement gave Lewandowski, as Noem’s closest adviser, an overly influential position over the companies and organizations seeking federal money. 
Lewandowski and Noem both left DHS in March after Trump removed Noem as secretary and replaced her with Mullin. The allegations concerning Lewandowski, however, have continued to follow him after his departure. He now works as a consultant and has secured at least one foreign client: Bahrain, which signed a contract with him after he left government, according to a Bahraini official.
The DHS inspector general’s investigation remains ongoing.

Corey Lewandowski

Former Top DHS Official Accused Of Trying To Sell Out To Middle Eastern Governments On The Job

corey lewandowski

kristi noem

qatar

united arab emirates

For the first time since 9/11, TSA is allowing airport visitors past security without an airline ticket. 
The new TSA program, called &#8220;<a href="https://www.tsa.gov/precheck/gateside-tsa-precheck">Gateside,</a>&#8221; allows non-ticketed airport visitors to go to airport gates as long as they apply and are screened by TSA security. The White House <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2097302881028182084?s=20">said</a> on Tuesday the new program allows “non-passengers to meet loved ones at the gate.” 
“We came up with a program that doesn&#8217;t compromise security at all — it&#8217;s just a part of the known passenger process,&#8221; Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. &#8220;We hope that it will help the passenger experience.&#8221; 
Airlines already grant special gate passes to non-ticketed parents accompanying minors to the gate, but Mullin said the new program was designed with all air travelers in mind, not just the elderly and younger passengers who often need assistance. 
“It’s not just kids, it’s adults. It’s our wives, it’s our parents, elderly parents, our grandparents that we want to pick up at the gate,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So we started to look at how we do this better and still keep everybody safe.” 
The program is already up and running at 13 airports across the United States, including Mesa Gateway in Arizona; John Glenn Columbus International in Ohio; Dallas Fort Worth International; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County; Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National in Kansas; Indianapolis International; Harry Reid International in Las Vegas; Los Angeles International; Bill and Hillary Clinton National in Little Rock, Arkansas; Will Rogers International in Oklahoma City; Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska; San Diego International; and Salt Lake City International in Utah.
But getting through to the gate still has its restrictions. An airport visitor needs TSA PreCheck or a known traveler number to be eligible to get a “Gateside Pass” and must apply for a pass before showing up. TSA requires visitors using &#8220;Gateside&#8221; to apply for a pass &#8220;at least one day before your visit and no more than three days in advance.&#8221;
Those with a “Gateside Pass” will still be subjected to the same TSA screening as ticketed passengers and will not be allowed past the doors leading to the plane. 
Columbus Regional Airport Authority President and CEO Daren Griffin called the move a return to something air travel had lost. 
&#8220;This innovative program helps bring back special moments that many travelers have missed — welcoming loved ones at the gate, enjoying a meal together before a flight, or simply sharing time in the terminal,&#8221; he <a href="https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/john-glenn-international-airport-joins-new-gateside-by-tsa-precheck-program-daren-griffin-flight-restaurants-security-checkpoint-cmh-known-traveler-number">told</a> a local outlet.
Daniel Bubb, a former pilot, also weighed in on the impact of the program, saying it would restore time families and friends used to have together before a flight. 
“I actually remember the days in air travel where friends and family members could go with the people who were traveling past security and go have a meal together, go have a drink, sit and visit before they go to the plane,” <a href="https://local21news.com/news/nation-world/former-pilot-weighs-potential-impact-of-new-tsa-program">said</a> Bubb. 
He added, however, that the new program could lead to longer security wait times. “It’s going to add more people to the lines, and so it is going to lengthen the time. I can see that being a little bit of a challenge, so airports are going to have to figure that out.”
The move is the latest change to TSA under the Trump administration. Last year, the Trump administration ended a policy that forced passengers to take their shoes off as they went through TSA screening and security. The administration also began fully enforcing the REAL ID requirement, meaning travelers 18 and older must present a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or passport to board a domestic flight.

TSA Just Made A Big Change For ‘Loved Ones’ Of Travelers

air travel

airport security

markwayne mullin

transportation security administration

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the United States still has not fully implemented one of the border-security reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission.
That’s according to a bipartisan review released this week by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which found that the Commission’s call for a biometric entry-exit screening system to be created “as quickly as possible” is still incomplete.
Air exit is considered nearly complete, according to the committee. Sea exit remains incomplete, as does biometric land exit at both the northern and southern borders. Even biometric exit at the southern border is listed as incomplete and relies in part on re-entry data.
The finding matters because the ability to determine whether a foreign traveler had actually left the United States was one of the problems exposed during the investigation into the 9/11 plot.
Nawaf al-Hazmi entered the United States in January 2000 after attending an al-Qaeda meeting in Kuala Lumpur with Khalid al-Mihdhar. Both men later lived in California. By August 2001, U.S. authorities had finally begun trying to locate them. On August 22, immigration officials told investigators that Mihdhar had entered the United States again on July 4. They also found no record showing that Hazmi had left after entering the country in January 2000.
Investigators assumed he had probably departed with Mihdhar the previous year. He had not.
Hazmi was still in the United States, and on September 11 he and Mihdhar hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon.
A Gap 9/11 Exposed
The 9/11 Commission later found that Hazmi had overstayed his authorized stay by nine months. Another hijacker, Satam al-Suqami, had overstayed by four months. Neither violation was detected or acted upon before the attacks.
The problem went well beyond two visa overstays. The Commission found that travel documents and travel patterns might have given authorities an opportunity to intercept between four and 15 of the 19 hijackers. Information existed across intelligence, immigration, and travel systems, but too often it was not connected or acted upon in time.
One of the Commission&#8217;s recommendations was straightforward: the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with support from Congress, should complete a biometric entry-exit screening system “as quickly as possible.” The goal was not simply to know who entered the country. It was to connect a person&#8217;s identity to travel records and know when that person left. That recommendation came in 2004.
Much of the system envisioned by the Commission has since been built. Biometric screening is now complete for air entry, sea entry, and pedestrian land entry, according to the House report. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says facial biometrics are used for entry at all international airports and for international departures at 57 airports.
The technology can compare a traveler standing at a checkpoint or departure gate against government-held passport, visa, or previous-entry photographs. That provides something a name and passport number alone cannot: biometric confirmation that the person associated with the travel record is actually the person entering or leaving.
The system is already producing results. In an August 2026 final rule, DHS said facial biometric matching at exit had confirmed more than 516,000 overstays between June 2017 and October 2025. The same filing said CBP had intercepted more than 2,200 impostors using facial biometrics at airports and pedestrian land crossings.
Those numbers are not evidence that hundreds of thousands of terrorists are moving through the country, and they should not be treated that way. They do show why confirming identity and departure has value.
The question is why the system still does not cover every way someone can leave the United States.
Exit Is the Hard Part
The United States has never operated a comprehensive immigration exit-control system.
International travelers can leave through airline gates spread across an airport, while land borders create a much larger infrastructure problem. Thousands of vehicles can move toward Canada or Mexico each day, and collecting biometrics from the people inside them without creating major backups is very different from photographing someone standing at an airport inspection booth.
That helps explain the delay. It does not explain all of it. Congress first directed the federal government to create an automated entry-exit system in 1996, five years before the deadly terror attacks. The system Congress envisioned did not exist when Hazmi and Suqami overstayed their authorized stays, a point the 9/11 Commission later made explicitly.
Congress and successive administrations have returned to the issue repeatedly since then. New laws required integrated arrival and departure databases, biometric technology, and greater interoperability with law enforcement systems. In 2017, President Donald Trump directed DHS to expedite the biometric entry-exit system recommended by the 9/11 Commission.
A major change came last year. In October 2025, DHS finalized a rule allowing photographs to be required from noncitizens entering and departing the United States and removing earlier limits that had confined some biometric exit collection to pilot programs and specific ports. The rule took effect in December.
The legal authority, however, did not mean the system suddenly existed everywhere. In that same 2025 rule, CBP said it was still determining the best approach for biometric exit at sea and land borders, as well as for private aircraft. The agency had not completed cost-benefit analyses for several of those environments because it was still deciding how the systems would actually work.
CBP estimated that a biometric entry-exit system could be fully implemented at commercial airports and seaports within another three to five years. For vehicles and other land-border exits, the agency said it would continue studying and testing possible solutions.
That is where the timing becomes difficult to ignore. The entry-exit requirement began in 1996. The 9/11 Commission called for a biometric system in 2004. More than two decades later, CBP was still determining how parts of it should work.
Finishing the System
The House Intelligence Committee is now calling for a more complete approach. Its new report recommends that foreign nationals pass through control points when both entering and departing the United States. At land borders, the committee says the system should, as much as practical, direct departing foreign nationals through points where CBP can collect biometrics.
That would be a much bigger undertaking than adding more facial-recognition cameras at airport gates. Some land crossings would likely require changes in traffic patterns, infrastructure, and staffing. It would also require money.
DHS raised that issue again just weeks before the House report was released. In an August 2026 final rule dealing with the 9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee, the department said inadequate funding threatened both existing biometric operations and continued implementation of entry and exit programs. The statutory fee currently supporting part of that work is itself scheduled to expire in September 2027 unless Congress extends it.
That last part deserves attention because the next phase is not simply about collecting more photographs. A biometric system can confirm who someone is. It cannot tell a border officer that the person is connected to al-Qaeda, ISIS, a foreign intelligence service, or another threat unless the intelligence needed to make that connection has already been collected, shared, and entered into the systems used for screening.
The House Intelligence Committee makes that point directly. It warns that screening and vetting are heavily dependent on foreign intelligence collection. If information about a terrorist suspect does not exist in the relevant databases, even a perfectly functioning biometric system has very little to match against.
That is an important distinction. A completed biometric exit system would not have prevented 9/11 by itself. The attacks involved failures in intelligence collection, information sharing, watchlisting, and analysis that went far beyond immigration records. But the inability to reliably determine whether certain people were still inside the United States was one of those failures.
By August 2001, U.S. authorities had finally uncovered information showing that Hazmi had traveled to Los Angeles and that Mihdhar had recently returned to the United States. Both men were added to the TIPOFF watchlist on August 24. A lead was eventually sent to the FBI&#8217;s New York field office on August 28, but it was marked “Routine,” which gave the office 30 days to respond. The lead was sent just 14 days before September 11, and the search came far too late.
The United States has changed dramatically since then. Intelligence sharing improved, watchlisting expanded, aviation security was rebuilt, and border screening became far more sophisticated where those systems were actually implemented. The new House Intelligence Committee review credits those reforms with helping prevent another attack on the scale of 9/11 so far.
But its report also shows that one of the more basic recommendations remains unfinished. The government is far better today at knowing who enters the United States. The next step is finishing the system that tells us, with the same confidence, who left.

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