U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 11 Iranian nationals illegally present in the United States over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Tuesday.
“Under Secretary Noem, DHS has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through Biden’s fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are. We don’t wait until a military operation to execute; we proactively deliver on President Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
The arrests come as U.S. agencies have warned that Iran may activate sleeper cells in the country.
Over the weekend, DHS issued a national terrorism advisory declaring that the “likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland” would “likely increase if Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland.”
“Multiple recent Homeland terrorist attacks have been motivated by anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment, and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could contribute to US-based individuals plotting additional attacks,” the statement added.
A memo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott also noted that thousands of “Iranian nationals have been documented entering the United States illegally and countless more were likely in the known and unknown got-a-ways.”
The memo, obtained by NewsNation, explained that “the threat of sleeper cells or sympathizers acting on their own, or at the behest of Iran has never been higher.”
