A video posted on social media has raised concerns that a potential terrorist recently crossed into the United States unlawfully.
The video, initially posted by 1st Responders Media, reportedly shows a group of unlawful migrants crossing the border when one man makes what seems to be a veiled threat.
“If you were smart enough, you would know who I am, but you are really not smart enough to know who I am. But soon you are going to know who I am,” said the man in the video.
A migrant who illegally crossed into the United States threatened me, saying "You find out who I am very soon," simply because I asked him where he was from. These are the people @AliMayorkas @POTUS @DHSgov and @CBP are letting in. pic.twitter.com/iblMnNndpa
— 1strespondersmedia (@1strespondermed) January 21, 2024
Shortly after the 1st Responders Media post, a journalist with The Publica, Sarah Fields, posted that the man in the video is allegedly Movsum Samadov, “also know as Movsum Mardan oglu Samadov.”
“He is the chairman of the Islamic Terrorists group Azerbaijani Islamic party. He was sentenced to 12 years after being convicted of trying to overthrow the government,” Fields continued.
Fields stated that Samadov was previously charged with “Arms Trafficking and illicit use of weapons,” “Criminal premeditation and conspiracy terrorism,” and “Treason and sedition.”
Asked about the footage during a later interview with Radio Liberty in Azerbaijani, Samadov argued that he is not the man who appears in the video.
“I just got acquainted with the video,” he said in the interview (translated to English). “First of all, that person doesn’t look like me. When you compare, you will see that outwardly there is very little similarity, except for the glasses.”
“Another important issue is that I am banned from leaving the country [of Azerbaijan],” he added. “I have tried twice to visit, but permission was not granted. Since I cannot leave the country, it is impossible for me to go there [to the U.S.].”
“I am here, not anywhere else,” he emphasized.
“There was a terrorist talk,” Samadov continued. “…True Islam was not prone to terrorism, on the contrary, it was the target of terrorism. Brave people don’t do anything to the civilian population, Islam has always been the victim and target of such things.”
Explaining the circumstances behind his imprisonment, he claimed, “I was arrested because I brought up the issue of hijab and other problems, now the government itself has resolved some of these issues, the issue of hijab, etc.”
Samadov concluded by noting: “The video is said to have been widely circulated in America. I don’t know why it spread. It may be to influence something on the eve of the elections. It is not random, it is a pre-election process. … It is possible that it was created to influence the processes in Azerbaijan. I don’t know anything exactly, the process will show.
Though Samadov may not have been the person who appeared to threaten residents of the U.S. in the video on X, concerns about terrorism have grown as the country continues to deal with an influx of migrants at the southern border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported record-high numbers of encounters in recent months.
Although CBP has yet to release the specific number of interactions in December, the agency has confirmed that there were more than 300,000 encounters with unlawful migrants at the southern border in just one month, as reported by The Dallas Express. This monthly number would break the previous record of 269,735 encounters in September.
In addition to breaking records with the number of overall encounters, CBP has also reported record highs in apprehensions of people listed in the CBP Terrorist Screening Dataset.
The dataset reports that 172 people from the watchlist were apprehended between the northern and southern borders in the 2023 fiscal year, with 169 of the apprehensions occurring at the southern border.
This number is the highest reported by CBP in the last seven full fiscal years and a significant jump from the 98 apprehensions in the 2022 fiscal year.
Note: This article was updated on January 31, 2023, at 9:13 p.m. to include statements from the Radio Liberty interview with Samadov.
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