Experts and available data suggest that the alleged terrorist attack against Chicago’s Jewish community in October won’t be the last time a suspected extremist is able to take advantage of the country’s southern border crisis.
Sidi Mohamed Abdellahi, a 22-year-old Mauritian national who was living unlawfully in the United States, was arrested in October for allegedly shooting a visibly Orthodox Jewish man walking to a Chicago synagogue and then shouting “Allahu Akbar” as he opened fire at responding law enforcement and paramedics. The illegal migrant died while in law enforcement custody Saturday in what was described as an “apparent suicide attempt by hanging,” according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. (RELATED: ‘Explore Every Action Necessary’: Here’s How Trump Admin, GOP May Change Fight Against Mexican Cartels)
Border Patrol agents first encountered Abdellahi near San Ysidro, California on March, 31, 2023, and he was later released into the interior of the country, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) previously confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. While living in the U.S., the Mauritian national carefully researched and orchestrated an attack against Jewish Americans, prosecutors alleged.
Immigration hawks argue that foreign extremists have taken advantage of lax border enforcement, and the prospect of terrorist attacks by a border jumpers is incredibly high.
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO – DECEMBER 19: Immigrants cross the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas to seek political asylum on December 19, 2022 from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued an “administrative stay,” temporarily leaving in place the Title 42 pandemic era policy to quickly expel migrants at the border. Border officials expect an even larger migrant surge at the border if and when Title 42 is lifted. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
“Terrorists have been making their way into the U.S., both legally and illegally, for decades and the Biden Administration’s complete abandonment of all border security procedures made it significantly easier for terrorists to jump the border and hide in plain sight while waiting for a bogus asylum application to be adjudicated,” Matt O’Brien, investigations director for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a group that pushes for stricter immigration laws, told the DCNF. “It is absolutely guaranteed that every America-hating terror group in the world will have seized upon the chaos along the southern border in order to insert operatives into our country.”
President Joe Biden oversaw an incredible spike in illegal immigration during his White House tenure, with roughly 8.5 million encounters at the southern border during the four years of his administration. Fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024 experienced the highest and second highest years, respectively, of illegal immigration in U.S. history.
Republicans in Congress have already sounded the alarm over the number of suspected terrorists who entered the country amid the chaos. At least 99 individuals on the U.S. terrorist watchlist were released into the country during the Biden administration after they unlawfully crossed the southern border, according to a report by the House Judiciary Committee released in August.
In addition to conducting the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, resuming construction of the southern border wall and embarking on a number of other hardline enforcement measures, President-elect Donald Trump has also vowed to re-implement a travel ban he put into place during his first term in office. The travel ban — which faced stiff opposition from congressional Democrats and court challenges from liberal opponents — restricted travel from a number of countries that have long been plagued with poor vetting capabilities and a history of terrorist activity.
Biden immediately signed an executive order upon entering office in January 2021 that ended the travel ban, one of the many orders he signed that did away with Trump-era immigration enforcement policies.
TOPSHOT – An Iraqi counter terrorism forces member stands guard in the Mosul al-Jadida area on March 26, 2017, following air strikes in which civilians have been reportedly killed during an ongoing offensive against the Islamic State (IS) group. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)
The threat of a terrorist attack felt all the more real after federal law enforcement officials in June confirmed the arrests of eight Tajik nationals across several major cities who allegedly had ties to ISIS. A multi-agency investigation into these foreign nationals, which included a wiretapping operation, uncovered that at least one of the individuals had discussed bombs.
“If the Millennium Bomber, World Trade Center, and Boston Marathon attacks proved anything, it’s that terrorists have recognized that there are significant loopholes in our immigration system that can be exploited to get into the United States and harm Americans,” O’Brien stated. “Only thorough immigration vetting and tough border enforcement policies are going to deter terrorists and keep American communities safe.”
Abdellahi’s cell-phone data showed that he had been researching potential targets for days before shooting an Orthodox Jewish man who was on his way to worship services on Oct. 26, prosecutors alleged. Among the addresses the illegal migrant had mapped out was a synagogue just a block away from the area he chose to shoot up.
“This was not anything but a planned attack … an attempted assassination of these people,” Assistant State’s Attorney Anne McCord Rodgers stated, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “This was a calculated plan, on a public street … and an attempted slaughter of that person and law enforcement officers.”
The Mauritian national was initially only charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, and one count of aggravated battery, but after outcry from Chicago’s Jewish community and other outside pressure, Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx tacked on hate crime and terrorism charges.
The Chicago synagogue shooting also highlighted how sanctuary policy can potentially sideline federal immigration authorities who are seeking custody of suspected terrorists living in the country. ICE confirmed that it had lodged an immigration detainer for Abdellahi with the Cook County Jail in Chicago shortly after he was arrested, but Chicago laws largely ban police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Immigration hawks like O’Brien argue that only hardline border policies will deter potential terrorists from making their way into the U.S. and wreaking havoc on communities.
“If there are no serious consequences for terrorist exploitation of our immigration laws, terrorists will keep breaking them,” he said.
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