Connect with us

illegal immigration

Jordanians in Quantico Truck-Ramming Finally Identified

Published

9 minute read

From the Center for Immigration Studies

By Todd Bensman 

Biden/Harris DOJ argued that names of the suspects were protected on grounds of ‘personal privacy’

The Biden administration has refused answer reporters’ questions, rule out terrorism, or even reveal the names of two Jordanians in the country illegally, one of whom had illegally crossed the U.S. Southwest border, who on May 3 conducted a box truck ramming attack on Quantico Marine Corps Base.

The Department of Justice, Department of Defense, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the FBI all circled wagons to guard even the identities of the two Jordanians against five written congressional inquiries, a sixth by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin seeking government briefings about the incident, and most recently a subpoena by the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Government lawyers went so far as to refuse a Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) Freedom of Information Act request on grounds that releasing their names was a “clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and of “minimal public interest” despite the congressional and media inquiries that reached a May 16 White House press briefing where President Biden’s spokesperson refused to answer.

But a systematic search of federal court records by the Center has now turned up the names of the men as Hasan Y. Hamdan and Mohammad K. Dabous. The records also provide an indication of at least what the federal government has done with them since their May 3 arrests, though stop short of why they tried to ram a truck into the military base or how they came to be in Virginia. While one Jordanian illegally crossed the border a month before the incident, the other reportedly overstayed a student visa he’d been issued but never used.

(See the records here: Dabous citationDabous criminal informationHamdan criminal informationDabous hearing transcriptHamdan hearing transcript, and Dabous conditions of release.)

Both men stand charged in the U.S. Eastern District of Virginia’s Alexandria courthouse with Class B misdemeanors for allegedly trespassing on a military facility, together on May 3, charges which carry up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The men “did unlawfully go upon a military installation for a purpose prohibited by law, to wit: knowingly and intentionally entering Marine Corps Base Quantico,” the now-identified charging documents read for both men.

Both men evidently were held by ICE until about the final week of July, when they agreed to certain conditions for their releases – that they show up for all upcoming immigration proceedings and stay away from Quantico or any other military installation, court records show. They are likely free now pending those unknown immigration proceedings and the criminal ones in Alexandria.

The Quantico incident made local headlines that quickly spread in mid-May. Marine sentries arrested both after they pulled up to a main entrance gate in a rented box truck and said they were there to make a delivery as Amazon subcontractors. When they were unable to provide any credentials, guards Instructed to pull over to a secondary inspection area for further questioning.

That was when the driver hit the gas and tried to plow through onto the base despite halt orders, media reports quoting anonymous sources said. Initially, the sources said one of the two Jordanians was on the FBI terrorism watch list, a claim that another anonymous source later disputed in a different media report.

Either way, the men would have succeeded in penetrating into the base interior except that guards deployed vehicle denial barriers.

The administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid characterizing motivations for the incident or do what most interested parties want: rule out the incident as an attempted terror attack by an illegal border-crosser.

A private attorney listed as representing Hasan Hamdan, Dwight Everette Crawley, quickly declined comment to the Center in a phone call. Crawley’s website says he is a former prosecutor-turned criminal defense trial attorney who has represented defendants in capital murder cases.

“I don’t discuss clients. Thanks for your time,” Crawley said, hanging up, when asked if he’d discuss this client.

For reasons not clear, DOJ attorneys – unusually, for such cases – did not file their charges in court for many weeks after the incident became news, not until July 9, in the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. That’s more than two months after the arrests, when media interest had waned.

Because the government refused to release names of the arrested people on supposed privacy grounds and ostensible absence of any public interest, and also delayed filing court papers for more than two months, a systematic search in the Alexandria federal court building did not uncover the public court case records.

On July 22, when both Jordanians showed up for an “initial appearance” before a magistrate judge, ordinarily held quickly to advise arrested people of their rights and to inform them of additional hearings to come, no independent observers were present.

The Center only uncovered the court filings after another records search found them after the open July 22 hearing. The Center did not attend but did order and receive transcripts.

The transcripts showed that both Jordanians appeared in the same courtroom for the same trespass charges, with an Arabic-speaking interpreter, and also that they’d been held in custody since their May 3 arrests.

“I’d like to just point out for the Court’s awareness Mr. Hamdan and Mr. Dabous’s charges for which they’re appearing today stem from the same incident,” a prosecutor told the judge.

But the transcripts also show that, more than 10 weeks after their arrests, federal prosecutors were amenable to support their releases on a promise that they would appear for future hearings.

The judge set both men’s next hearing for 10 a.m. on September 17.

There could many reasons the government might support the release of the suspects. Investigation may have shown they were not considered a threat, or was inconclusive either way; an investigation did find derogatory motivation, but the Justice Department wanted to bury the story by foregoing attention-grabbing terrorism charges in favor of immigration proceedings; or even that the suspects may have become informants whose cooperation authorities would want to reward with a good-faith gesture.

A search of Arabic social media was unable to verify whether either man operated accounts because their names are common in Jordan and in the Palestinian occupied territories near Israel. So, little else could be learned about them.

CIS intern Hadley Ott contributed to research for this report.

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

illegal immigration

Trump to declare national emergency on border, issue executive orders

Published on

From The Center Square

By

After being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, President Donald Trump said he will sign “a series of historic executive orders … to begin the complete restoration of America and the ‘Revolution of Common Sense.’”

The first action he will take will be to declare a national emergency at the U.S. southern border, he said. Trump did not mention the northern border, which saw an unprecedented number of illegal crossings, record number of terrorists entering the U.S., and increased national security threats under the Biden administration, The Center Square reported.

“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said. “We will reinstate my ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy. I will end the practice of catch and release. I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country.”

Trump said he will designate Mexican cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The designation will also apply to violent transnational criminal organizations including the violent Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, which is now operating in at least 22 states, The Center Square reported.

By invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, Trump will direct the federal government “to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil, including our cities and inner cities,” he said.

The act will be used to remove all cartel and gang members in the country illegally.

“As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions and that is exactly what I am going to do. We will do it at a level that nobody’s ever seen before,” he said.

Trump is expected to issue 10 executive orders Monday to implement border security measures. They include ending the Obama-era catch-and-release policy Trump ended in his first term, which former President Joe Biden reinstated. The policy led to more than 14 million foreign nationals illegally entering the country, including more than two million who evaded capture known as gotaways under the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.

Trump will reinstate a policy he created in his first term, Remain in Mexico, or “Migrant Protection Protocols” (MPP). It requires asylum seekers to wait outside the U.S. while their claims are processed. After the Biden administration sought to end it, Texas and Missouri sued. A federal judge ruled that ending the MPP was unlawful, The Center Square reported.

Trump will also direct federal agencies to finish building the border wall along the southwest border, completing a project he began in his first term. Biden halted border wall construction on his first day in office. Texas and Missouri again sued and won that lawsuit as well, The Center Square reported.policy

Another executive order will end parole programs for illegal border crossers created by former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was impeached in part for creating them. Multiple attorneys general sued to stop them, arguing they were illegal.

The parole programs, including using a phone app, facilitated illegal entry into the U.S. for millions, including those with criminal records. Many released through the parole programs were later found to commit violent crimes against Americans, The Center Square reported.

Another will direct federal efforts to “crack down on criminal sanctuaries,” referring to so-called sanctuary jurisdictions. More than 200 were identified and already given notice to comply with federal law or face prosecution. Sanctuary cities expected to be targeted first include Boston, Chicago, Miami and New York.

Trump’s massive deportation efforts will be led by his Border Czar Tom Homan, who has said the priority is to find and locate the most violent criminals to process for removal.

Another executive order will suspend the federal so-called refugee resettlement program through which local communities nationwide “were forced to house large and unsustainable populations of migrants, straining community safety and resources,” Trump’s transition team said.

Trump will also direct members of the U.S. military, including the National Guard, to engage in border security operations, deploying them to the border to assist existing law enforcement personnel. According to a poll ahead of the election last year, the majority of Americans support U.S. troops being sent to the border, The Center Squarereported.

Another order will direct the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty for illegal border crossers who kill U.S. citizens, including law enforcement officers.

Last year, criminal illegal border crossers made international headlines after brutally assaulting and murdering American women and girls, The Center Square reported. Their mothers and family members endorsed Trump for president.

Another order will direct the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to enhance vetting and screening processes after national security concerns were raised about the Biden administration flying illegal border crossers into the country who weren’t vetted, The Center Square reported.

Continue Reading

Daily Caller

Sweeping Deportations to Begin in Chicago Day After Inauguration

Published on

 

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to launch his promised large-scale deportation operation the day after he is sworn into office, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The incoming Trump administration will immediately begin mass deportation efforts in major sanctuary cities across the United States, with Chicago predicted to be first on the docket, according to The Wall Street Journal. The raid in Chicago is anticipated to begin Tuesday morning and last the entire week, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deploy 100 to 200 agents to execute the operation.

Incoming border czar Tom Homan — who led ICE during the first Trump administration — previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House will focus on the “worst first,” prioritizing illegal migrants who have criminal histories and orders of removal. However, Homan also made clear that any illegal migrant in the U.S is fair game.

“Like the first Trump administration, we’re going to prioritize public safety threats, national security threats and fugitives,” Homan stated to the DCNF, adding that gang members and other criminals would be their main focus. “Those that had due process at great taxpayer expense, were given orders of deportation, never left and became a fugitive – them too, they’re a priority.”

“The ones who pose the biggest threat to the country – they come first. The worst first,” Homan went on. “But let’s be clear, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”

The Chicago City Council recently slapped down an attempt by two moderate aldermen to scale back the sanctuary city laws currently in place.

Aldermen Raymond Lopez and Silvana Tabares, both Democrats, proposed amending Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance to allow for ICE cooperation when an illegal migrant has been arrested of certain criminal activities, arguing that such a policy would be a net benefit for the city’s immigrant community as it would allow deportation officers to better focus on criminals instead of making enforcement actions in the city at large. However, their proposal was quickly shot down by the council on Wednesday.

Other sanctuary cities in the U.S. have also expressed steep opposition to Trump’s enforcement agenda. Los Angeles passed its sanctuary law shortly after Trump emerged victorious in the presidential election, San Diego County doubled down on its existing law and Boston reaffirmed its sanctuary status in December.

Homan has said that city officials refusing to cooperate with ICE will not deter their agenda, and he added that those who knowingly harbor illegal migrants from law enforcement will be recommended for prosecution.

Along with large-scale deportation operations, Trump has also vowed to end birthright citizenship for those born on U.S. soil by illegal migrant parents, resume construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, bring back the Remain in Mexico program and implement other hawkish policies.

Continue Reading

Trending

X