US Gov't Memo Warns of Potential Terrorist Influx of Hamas, Hezbollah Across Southern Border

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is warning of potential Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists entering the U.S. through the southern border. 

In a memo released Friday by the agency's San Diego Field Office's intelligence unit, the agency warned 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."

It added border patrol authorities should look for military-age men, people traveling alone and with military gear, and those with ties to the Middle East. 

"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," reads the memo. 

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The memo, first reported by the Daily Caller, specifically mentions that border patrol agents should ask individuals about their association with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Hezbollah.

The memo comes as the border is facing a record number of migrants entering from around the world.
    
Figures from the CBP show a dramatic increase in the number of immigrants coming through San Diego's border. 

There were more than 26,000 encounters during September of this year—an increase of more than 67% from the 15,000 encounters in September 2022, ABC News San Diego reports.

New data released from the federal agency shows that there were a record number (169) of people encountered by Border Patrol agents last year at the southern border on the FBI's terror watch list. 

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The new data, which was released Saturday, shows that those apprehended were more than those encountered in the last six fiscal years combined. 

Earlier this month, the Biden administration reversed course and approved building a border wall in part of Texas.

As CBN News reported, the administration is using sweeping executive powers to waive more than two dozen federal laws, allowing the construction of up to 20 miles of border wall in an area of south Texas where 245,000 migrants have crossed this year alone.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated earlier in October, "There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the United States to prevent unlawful entries...."

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Customs and Border Protection didn't immediately respond to our request for comment.

But a CBP spokesperson told Fox News the agency "has seen no indication of Hamas-directed foreign fighters seeking to make entry into the United States."

"It is the policy of CBP to neither confirm nor speak to potentially improperly disclosed information or internal documents marked as law enforcement sensitive or for official use only," the spokesperson said. "In general, CBP provides frontline personnel a wide range of context for situational awareness in order to ensure they remain vigilant in fulfillment of our homeland and border security missions. Situational awareness briefs are not threat assessments."