Border crossers cleared of terrorism ties

This 2016 file photo shows a section of the international border fence in Nogales, Ariz. Reports that a group of Middle Eastern men had been caught crossing the border illegally from Mexico into Arizona two years ago set off alarms among conservative bloggers and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.
This 2016 file photo shows a section of the international border fence in Nogales, Ariz. Reports that a group of Middle Eastern men had been caught crossing the border illegally from Mexico into Arizona two years ago set off alarms among conservative bloggers and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

PHOENIX -- The arrests of six Middle Eastern men caught entering the United States illegally from Mexico two years ago set off alarm in border states and on some conservative blogs and other media outlets.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey called it a matter of national security and mentioned the Islamic State militant group in a statement calling for stepped-up border security in response to the arrests. Conservative publications like the Washington Examiner reported on the men from "Middle East terror hotbeds," while Fox News questioned whether "Islamic State militants could be probing security."

But documents recently obtained by The Associated Press through a public-records request reveal the men were fleeing violence and persecution in their homelands and were cleared of any terrorism ties. They also were physically and verbally abused by two Mexican smugglers with a history of crossing the border illegally, and they went days without food and water, the records show.

The case highlights the politicized nature of U.S.-Mexico border crossings. Some blogs incorrectly reported the men were released. Others sought to tie them to the Islamic State.

[THE ISLAMIC STATE: Timeline of group’s rise, fall; details on campaign to fight it]

In fact, the men cooperated with the government, and four have been deported. The remaining two are in removal proceedings, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe.

The five men from Pakistan and one from Afghanistan were arrested at a time when the Islamic State was committing some of its bloodiest acts, just days after coordinated bombings and shootings in Paris heightened fears about attacks in the U.S.

The arrests also came around the same time as two Syrian families with children presented themselves at the border, seeking asylum. The families were Christian and were fleeing persecution. Still, the incident prompted a tweet from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump that said, with some of the words in capital letters: "Eight Syrians were just caught on the southern border trying to get into the U.S. ISIS maybe? I told you so. We need a big & beautiful wall!"

But none of the cases had any ties to terrorism.

Government officials have long denied there have been any arrests of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border with ties to the Islamic State, and private security analysts agree.

Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical analysis for Texas-based intelligence firm Stratfor, said he knows of no instances of terrorists sneaking into the U.S. through the southern border.

He said it's much more likely a terrorist would use the Canadian border to sneak into the country, as Ahmed Ressam did in 1999. Ressam planned to bomb the Los Angeles airport and used false documents to enter the U.S. from Canada. Border authorities caught him with a car full of explosives.

Stewart said it's highly unlikely the Mexican cartels, which control smuggling corridors, would help a terrorist enter the United States.

"The last thing they want is to be labeled as narco-terrorists. That's just terrible for business," Stewart said. "I'm honestly much more concerned about meth, fentanyl and heroin than I am of al-Qaida or the Islamic State coming across."

Despite most border crossers being from Latin America, a small number come from far-away places like China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Investigative files obtained by the AP show that the Middle Eastern men completed a long and costly journey to America.

The Afghan man told Border Patrol agents that he left his home seven months earlier and traveled through at least 10 countries before making it to the U.S. He was detained for weeks in Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Mexico and paid nearly $15,000 in smuggling fees along the way.

Once the men reached the U.S. border, the smugglers told them that crossing illegally into Arizona would be a matter of a few easy hours.

But their trip took several days in treacherous conditions.

The men spent three or four days walking through the desert. They ran out of water on the first night and food on the second, and they trekked through mountains near the border in snow and rain. The men said they had no jackets.

They said the smugglers verbally accosted them and threw rocks at them if they walked too slowly. The Afghan man said one of the smugglers punched him in the chest. When one man injured his ankle, a smuggler said "Bye, bye" and kept walking. Another man, who couldn't keep up, said he paid the smugglers more to slow down.

The men were arrested in November 2015 after triggering a Border Patrol sensor about 15 miles north of the border.

The men were interviewed separately, and all told authorities about abuses at the hands of the two Mexican smugglers. They became witnesses in the case against Ernesto Dorame-Gonzalez and Martin Lopez-Alvarado, who had committed previous immigration offenses and pleaded guilty to smuggling charges.

A Section on 11/28/2017

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