Mohammad Aldairi Arrested for Smuggling Yemeni Aliens from Mexico into U.S.

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Jul 30, 2018

Monday the Department of Justice Office of Public Relations released the following statement about the arrest of a foreign nation for human smuggling over the US Southern Border.

“A Jordanian national residing in Monterrey, Mexico was arrested Saturday on arrival at JFK International Airport to face a criminal complaint issued in the Western District of Texas for his role in a scheme to smuggle special interest aliens from Mexico into the United States.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John F. Bash of the Western District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Shane M. Folden of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Antonio made the announcement.

On May 29, an arrest warrant was issued pursuant to a criminal complaint, which alleges that in the later half of 2017, Moayad Heider Mohammad Aldairi, 31, conspired with others to smuggle six Yemeni nationals across the Texas border and into the United States in exchange for a fee.

Aldairi was presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marilyn D. Go in the Eastern District of New York for his initial appearance.  At the hearing, Judge Go ordered that Aldairi be held pending transfer to the Western District of Texas for further criminal proceedings.

“Aldairi allegedly smuggled six Yemeni citizens across the Mexican border and into the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski.  “Alien smuggling puts our national security at risk, and the Criminal Division is dedicated to enforcing our immigration laws and disrupting the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.”

Full Press Release

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The investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and HSI.

The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.

ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources.

ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

The investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security:

Learn more about the ETC Strike Force, including their focus on the following:

“National Strategy To Combat Terrorist Travel (NCTC)

Strategic Objective 1: Suppress terrorists’ ability to cross international borders.

Strategic Objective 2: Deny terrorist access to resources that facilitate travel.

“THE ECT APPROACH”

The goal of ECT is to systematically dismantle and disrupt the international and domestic operations of criminal travel networks, identify and seize their assets and illicit proceeds, and identify systemic vulnerabilities that may be exploited by criminal elements to undermine immigration and border controls.

ECT is an intelligence-driven program that identifies targets based on the potential threat to national security, the sophistication of the criminal organization, and the humanitarian concerns raised by the human smuggling activities. Once a target is identified, a law enforcement team of HSI agents, intelligence analysts and HRSP attorneys is assigned to the investigation. The team is uniquely positioned to dismantle and disrupt criminal travel networks because of their specialized experience in advancing foreign investigations, working with foreign law enforcement and governments, anticipating evidentiary issues for domestic prosecutions, preparing Mutual Legal Assistance Requests (MLATs), and dealing with extradition issues

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