An Afghan national who is on the U.S. terror watchlist is again in custody Friday, the Division of Homeland Stability reported, after he was beforehand captured at the U.S.-Mexico border and unveiled twice onto American soil.
Mohammed Karwan is a member of Hezb-e-Islami, a group dependable for assaults in Afghanistan that killed at minimum 9 American soldiers and civilians from 2013 to 2015, the terror watchlist indicates, NBC documented.
Karwan was initially apprehended in March 2023 following crossing into the U.S. illegally near San Ysidro, California.
DHS officers inform Fox News that Karwan was not on the terror watchlist during that arrest and was referred to ICE, which released him on ATD – solutions to detention. At the time of his apprehension, “there was not conclusive data” to match him to the FBI’s Terrorism Check out Checklist, the officers explained.
This aerial photo taken in September 2023 demonstrates the U.S.-Mexico border in San Ysidro, California. Kerwan at first entered the U.S. in that place in March 2023, DHS resources say. (Sandy Huffaker/AFP by way of Getty Visuals)
Eleven months later, in February 2024, Karwan was officially added to the FBI terror watchlist right after “derogatory” new information and facts was developed on him, many DHS resources explained to Fox News. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was notified, and ICE arrested him in San Antonio in February, the sources claimed.
Two months back, in the course of a court physical appearance, DHS prosecutors did not convey to the federal immigration decide that the Afghan was on the terror watchlist or a probable nationwide menace, only arguing that he was a attainable flight threat. DHS are unable to disclose what they do or really don’t say in court docket, and is limited in what the section can explain to a choose, senior DHS officials told Fox Information.
The choose purchased him unveiled on bond, according to a source familiar with the make any difference.
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A Hezb-e-Islami soldier appears out above northern Kabul from a destroyed place of the Darulaman Palace in Afghanistan in May well 1993. (Terence White/AFP/Getty Images)
As of Friday, Karwan has been taken into custody once again with a court docket visual appearance set for following 12 months.
Homeland Security advised Fox Information late Thursday evening that “regulation enforcement has been monitoring the make any difference closely to protest versus general public safety threats” and “the person is currently in U.S. custody.”
“DHS can take critically its obligation to be certain that all those who enter the place really don’t pose a danger to our nationwide safety. If an specific poses a risk to national security or general public safety, we deny admission, detain, clear away, or refer them to other federal agencies for even more vetting, investigation and/or prosecution as correct,” a DHS spokesperson also said. “Vetting is a stage-in-time examine that evaluates facts accessible to the U.S. Federal government at that time. If persons who have entered the country are afterwards identified to be linked with data indicating a likely nationwide security or community security worry, DHS and our federal partners have treatments in place to examine and take proper act.”
Hezb-e-Islami chief Gulbuddin Hekmatyar addresses the supporters during a rally in Kabul, Afghanistan, in Could 2017.
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The U.S. Nationwide Counterterrorism Heart describes “Hezb-e-Islami, or ‘Party of Islam,’” as a “political and paramilitary corporation in Afghanistan established in 1976 by previous Afghan key minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has been distinguished in numerous Afghan conflicts considering that the late 1970s.”Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) is an offshoot of that first Hezb-e-Islami, and is a virulently anti-Western insurgent group whose objective is to substitute the Western-backed Afghan Government with an Islamic state rooted in sharia in line with Hekmatyar’s vision of a Pashtun-dominated Afghanistan,” it provides. “His group conducts assaults towards Coalition forces, Afghan Govt targets, and Western interests in Afghanistan.”
Fox News’ David Spunt and Madeleine Rivera contributed to this report.
