Iranians among dozens of Special Interest Aliens arrested by Texas authorities

by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News October 16, 2024

In just the past week, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers have arrested dozens of Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), including individuals from Iran, the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism which has threatened to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

An Iranian arrested at the border by Texas troopers. / X

On Oct. 11 alone, DPS troopers reported apprehending 165 foreign nationals in Quemado, outside of Eagle Pass, after they illegally entered Texas from Mexico. Among them were 14 identified as SIAs – citizens of Iran, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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The troopers are working through Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star.

SIAs are non-citizens who, based “on an analysis of travel patterns,” are “known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism” who “potentially pose a national security risk to the United States,” according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a video posted by DPS, apprehended Iranian SIAs stated their names and information about themselves in English. They said they are from Iran, they came through Mexico and were going to Florida, Las Vegas and San Francisco, respectively.

Last month, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a bill to require DHS to publish data on SIAs who are apprehended illegally entering the U.S.

There have been at least 73,000 SIAs arrested under the Biden-Harris administration, Greene said at a congressional hearing. The number “does not include the potential special interest aliens among the 2 million known gotaways,” she said.

DPS troopers also arrested 57 illegal foreign nationals for criminal trespass, including citizens of Peru, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, and Ecuador.


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