Politics
NEW: ‘Boatload’ Of Iranians Caught Trying To Enter The U.S.
A “boatload” of Iranians has been intercepted after its passengers tried to enter the U.S. through the Bahamas, a Republican member of Congress said on Monday.
The discovery, announced by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), comes after Iran vowed retaliation in response to the U.S. attacks on Sunday, which devastated three nuclear enrichment facilities. In a statement, the Florida Republican said that the threat of “sleeper cell” attacks by Iranian agents is very real.
“Am I concerned about sleeper cells? Absolutely. This is NOT a conspiracy theory, it’s a serious national security threat,” she told Florida’s Voice News.
It’s unclear how many individuals were traveling in the boat or if they were sent in response to the attacks.
However, critics of former President Joe Biden are already pointing to the prior administration’s lenient border security and asylum policies for allowing more than 1,200 Iranian nationals to enter the U.S. over four years.
“The likelihood of violent extremists in the Homeland independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would likely increase if the Iranian leadership issued a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the Homeland,” states a bulletin released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday.
“It is our duty to keep the nation safe and informed, especially during times of conflict,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The ongoing Israel-Iran conflict brings the possibility of increased threat to the homeland in the form of possible cyberattacks, acts of violence, and antisemitic hate crimes.”
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed into law the Laken Riley Act, mandating that the U.S. Coast Guard assist with the apprehension and detainment of illegal immigrants intercepted at the border. The Guard’s efforts augment those of DHS and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, which are tasked with arresting a minimum of 3,000 illegal immigrants per day, per a new mandate from the White House.
Fears of a radical Islamist terrorist in the U.S. were realized at the start of the year when a deranged man rammed his truck into revelers along Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 individuals, including a friend of the British Royal Family. Investigators uncovered chilling recordings of Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, praising ISIS and calling on fellow Muslims to launch lone wolf attacks inside the U.S.
Meanwhile, attacks in Iran continued into Monday with the launching of a new round of missiles by Israel into Tehran and Fordow, the fortified, underground nuclear enrichment installation struck by the U.S. on Sunday.
Charred and smoldering ruins appear to be all that’s left, according to satellite imagery touted by Trump on Monday.
“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Obliteration is an accurate term!”
Israeli missiles also struck the Tehran of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard on Monday, further damaging the group’s ability to manage counterstrikes or sleeper cell attacks inside the U.S. Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is now facing the greatest leadership test of his 36-year reign.