Border agents detained three Palestinian migrants who illegally crossed the southern border after they were found to have possible ties to terrorist organizations earlier this month, according to sources.
One of the migrants had “salacious photos” on their phone — including a picture of a masked man holding an AK-47 rifle, federal law enforcement sources said.
In addition to the three Palestinians, federal authorities caught one migrant from Turkey who was also suspected of having ties to terror groups.
The migrants were part a group of dozens of migrants who turned themselves into border agents at the San Diego sector, said sources.
An investigation into the migrants is ongoing, sources said. The group was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating their cases.
It’s the latest example of potential security threats entering the US via the southern border — especially at San Diego.
Overwhelmed Border Patrol agents tell The Post that they do not have the tools to fully vet the migrants who are coming in from all over the world — particularly into the San Diego area.
Mostly, they are only able to use US terror watchlists and other American resources to help determine which migrants could be a terror threat. Border agents do not have access to terror or criminal databases from other countries.
“Knowing who these guys are, we have, like, no access to anything international. Like, we really don’t and it kind of sucks,” said one border agent, who spoke anonymous because they were not authorized to give public statements.
“I wanted to get into Border Patrol and protect from terrorists. And it’s like, well, I probably let terrorists in the country.”
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear which terrorist organization the migrants were allegedly affiliated with.
However, border agents in the San Diego sector were warned to be on the lookout for individuals tied to Palestinian terrorist groups after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.
“San Diego Field Office Intelligence Unit assesses that individuals inspired by, or reacting to the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border,” the previous alert read.
“Foreign fighters motivated by ideology or mercenary soldiers of fortune may attempt to obfuscate travel to or from the US to or from countries in the Middle East through Mexico,” the memo adds, before listing the patches of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.
The migrants crossed the border just weeks after the Biden administration instituted new policies that restrict the ability of migrants to request asylum — though the executive order has has major loopholes allowing migrants to still be released into the country.
San Diego area has the biggest loopholes because migrants who arrive there from more than 100 countries that won’t accept deportees are exempt from the restrictions and are allowed to access the asylum system.
As a result, migrants from all over the world — including India, China and Central Asian nations that are major ISIS recruiting grounds — are flocking to San Diego.
The flow of migrants has slowed overall with the new restrictions combined with the summer heat, border agents still have concerns about terrorists trying to enter illegally and the ones they’ve already set free because their countries fail to share information on them.
Last month, ICE agents in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia arrested eight Tajik nationals believed to be tied to ISIS, all of whom crossed the southern border in recent years, as first revealed by The Post.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also been trying to track down 50 migrants who were brought into the US with the help of an ISIS-tied smuggling organization.
Agents have also caught record numbers of illegal migrants whose names appear on the terror watchlist as border crossings have skyrocketed under the Biden administration. Between fiscal years 2017 and 2020, border agents caught 26 terror watchlisted individuals at the southern border, according to federal data.
That number quickly jumped to 98 in fiscal year 2022 alone, followed by 169 the next year.
