Quick Hit:

An Afghan migrant, suspected of being a member of a terrorist group and on the FBI's watchlist, was released by the US Border Patrol and later by an immigration judge. The suspect, Mohammad Kharwin, was apprehended while crossing the US-Mexico border and was released twice despite suspicions of his terrorist affiliations.

Key Details:

• Mohammad Kharwin, 48, was apprehended and released by Customs and Border Protection agents in March 2023 after illegally entering the US near San Ysidro, California.
• Almost a year later, the FBI notified ICE that Kharwin was a suspected member of the US-designated foreign terror group Hezb-e-Islami, or HIG.
• Despite his suspected ties to HIG, Kharwin was released by an immigration judge on March 30 after posting a $12,000 bond, with no restrictions on his movements within the US.

Diving Deeper:

According to NBC News, Kharwin was released under Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "Alternatives to Detention" program, which typically requires migrants to submit to GPS tracking or report their whereabouts via a smartphone app. This release occurred despite the inability of CBP agents to definitively confirm his presence on the terror watchlist.

Hezb-e-Islami, or HIG, is a "virulently anti-Western insurgent group" operating out of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. The group is responsible for the deaths of several US soldiers and American contractors, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

ICE agents arrested Kharwin on February 28 in San Antonio, Texas. However, his time in custody was short-lived. ICE prosecutors failed to inform the Texas immigration judge handling Kharwin's detention proceedings about his suspected ties to HIG due to the classified nature of the information linking him to the terror group. Consequently, the judge released Kharwin after he posted a $12,000 bond, placing no restrictions on his movements within the US.

Since 2017, Border Patrol agents have encountered 370 migrants on the terror watchlist illegally crossing between ports of entry, according to CBP statistics. The numbers have increased under President Biden, with 172 migrants with suspected terrorism ties encountered in 2023 and 70 in the current fiscal year.

Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed concern about human smuggling networks with ties to terror groups using the southern border to gain entry into the US. He suggested that terrorists could be among the 1.8 million "gotaways" who illegally entered the US without being apprehended by border agents under the Biden administration.