A Lebanese national who was detained by Border Patrol officials earlier this month reportedly told officials he came to the U.S. to make a bomb.
Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, was caught by Border Patrol agents on March 9 near El Paso and allegedly admitted to being a member of Hezbollah. Ebbadi said his original destination was New York and then he hoped to move around the country.
When asked why he came to the U.S., Ebbadi responded, “I’m going to try to make a bomb,” the New York Post reported.
Ebbadi also told Border Patrol that he was trying to flee Lebanon and that he “didn’t want to kill people,” adding that “once you’re in, you can never get out,” according to the Post.
In a sworn interview, Ebbadi told Border Patrol that he had trained with Hezbollah for seven years and was an active member guarding weapons locations for four years. Ebbadi said that the training was focused on killing people who were non-Muslim.
According to ICE documents, Ebbadi said he did not have documents when he entered the U.S., claiming that he was robbed with a knife in Costa Rica. He admitted to using a fake birthday and name while in Ecuador, Sweden, and Panama.
Other unlawful migrants on the terror watchlist have recently been caught unlawfully crossing the border. Colombian citizen Carlos Obed Yepez-Beyoda was arrested by DPS after crossing the U.S. border just days before former President Donald Trump visited Eagle Pass, Texas.
“This underscores the need for border security measures as potential threats to both public safety and national security are evident and exploit security vulnerabilities,” DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez told the Post.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star has been putting up barriers to deter unlawful migrants from crossing the Mexico-Texas border.
“We’re going to be barricading every area where people are crossing,” Abbott said in an interview reported by CBS News. “Every area where the cartels use as a crossing, we intend to be barricading.”
