Authorities recently reported that over 50,000 “special interest aliens” (SIAs) have been encountered at the United States’ borders since Oct. 1, 2023, and Syrian nationals were among those who have illegally entered the Texas border.
The announcement came on the same day the Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) apprehended 31 illegal migrants in Maverick County, right on the border with Mexico. The migrants included two Syrian nationals who had been living in Venezuela. The other 29 were from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. They were taken into custody and brought to the Val Verde Processing Center in Del Rio.
The video that was posted on X, formerly Twitter, by TxDPS spokesperson Chris Olivarez included the Syrians talking about their plight to reach Texas.
One follower commented: “Just walked from Syria wearing a perfectly starched and spotless white shirt,” referring to the border crosser who was wearing a clean shirt despite claiming to have walked from Venezuela to Colombia, rode a boat from Colombia to Nicaragua, walked again from Nicaragua to Honduras to Guatemala to Mexico until they reached the Texas border.
Meanwhile, another social media user replied in the thread saying: “Isis undercover operatives.”
Chief of U.S. Border Patrol Jason Owens also revealed the significant number of SIAs encountered this fiscal year, with the San Diego Sector accounting for 88 percent of the apprehensions. He referred to them as “special interest migrants,” a term initially introduced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to DHS, an SIA is a non-American who, based on travel patterns, might pose a national security risk to the U.S. or its interests, often linked to potential terrorism.
Hellbound and Down 