A captured ISIS fighter who is a dual citizen of Canada and Trinidad has revealed that ISIS sent him on a mission to enter the US through the country’s border with Mexico with the purpose of committing terrorist activities upon entry.
Abu Henricki told authorities that the intelligence arm of the terror cell contacted him to enter the United States through a route from Puerto Rico through Mexico using false passports.
President Donald Trump is currently weighing options to curb the flow of illegal migrants from Mexico.
According to Henricki, ISIS was planning to target the US financial system after getting fighters into the country.
“They were going to move me to the Mexican side [of the U.S. southern border] via Puerto Rico. This was mastermind[ed] by a guy in America. Where he is, I do not know. That information, the plan came from someone from the New Jersey state from America. I was going to take a boat [from Puerto Rico] into Mexico. He was going to smuggle me in,” said Henricki about the plan.
Henricki also claims that ISIS also approached several other english-speaking fighters to participate in their plan to infiltrate the United States.
According to the 2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada, there are around 190 people who have left Canada to fight for an extremist organization. Out of those, the government estimates approximately 60 individuals are known to have returned to Canada since participating in terrorist activities abroad.
The Canadian government has failed to produce any meaningful plan to deal with ISIS fighters who wish to return to Canada. When pressured by the opposition to release a report on what the federal government would do about returning fighters, the Liberals produced a six-page report on the situation describing the legal difficulties behind the issue.
According to internal documents from the Privy Council Office, high-level government officials have discussed the possibility of repatriating ISIS fighters onto Canadian soil.
“However, as part of our due diligence, my officials, in consultation with the interdepartmental community, have evaluated a number of possible options/transfer scenarios,” read the memo.
