Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), tells Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM that countries that are known to support radical Islamic terrorism are “cutting deals” with Mexican cartels for access to human smuggling routes into the United States.
Citing photos from the U.S. Border Patrol component of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency on Friday, Gen. Flynn also told Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle, host of Breitbart News Daily, that there are signs in Arabic posted along human smuggling routes at the section of the border that lies in Texas providing directions for how to sneak into the United States.
Moreover, the former DIA chief said that the Shiite Lebanese narco-terrorist group Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, is illegally trafficking humans, drugs, and other contraband into the United States.
His comments echo recent warnings from the U.S. military, suggesting that criminal groups in Latin America may be collaborating with Islamic extremist organizations.
Gen. Flynn’s remarks came while he was discussing his new book The Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies during Friday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily.
He told the host:
I talk about this in the book — about the threat in Central and South America from countries like Iran who have organizations like Hezbollah who run a large transnational organized criminal organization which move narcotics and other commodities as well as humans into our country…
I know from my friends in the Border Patrol in CBP that there are… radical Islamist countries, state-sponsored, that are cutting deals with Mexican drug cartels for some of what they call the lanes of entry into our country. And I have personally seen the photos of the signage along those paths that are in Arabic… they’re like way points along that path as you come in. Primarily in this case the one that I saw was in Texas and it’s literally… signs in Arabic… [that say] ‘this way, move to this point’…
This rise of Muslims and radicalized Muslims coming into our country illegally is something that we should pay very, very close attention to.
Gen. Flynn’s remarks came in response to Boyle asking for his reaction to Breitbart News’ recent analysis of CBP data showing that the U.S. border authorities apprehended 916 illegals from terrorism-linked countries, officially known as Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), in 2015 (454) and 2015 (462).
The number of SIA arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border has nearly doubled since 2011 (255). According to a U.S. government estimate of successful entries known as “gotaways,” an estimated 370 SIAs may have infiltrated the United States since 2014.
The number of estimated SIA “gotaways” has also nearly doubled from 102 in 2011 to 192 in 2015.
Gen. Flynn’s comments are consistent with warnings from the top U.S. military official in Latin America, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) chief Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, indicating that criminal organizations in the region are collaborating with violent Islamic extremist groups.
SOUTHCOM has also noted that there are criminal networks in Latin America and the Caribbean that focus on trafficking individuals from terrorism-linked countries, officially known as Special Interest Aliens (SIAs), into the United States.
Both SOUTHCOM and the U.S. State Department have sounded the alarm on Shiite Iran’s increasing influence in the region as well as operations by Hezbollah and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) there.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined that Mexican drug cartels “control access to the U.S.-Mexico border” and the “smuggling routes across” it.
Mexican drug cartels are increasingly participating in human smuggling activities along the Southwest border and have taken control of the routes that are used.
In recent years, illegal cross-border activity along the U.S.-Mexico border has been concentrated in Texas. Breitbart News analysis show that most of the illegals from countries linked to terrorism are attempting to enter the United States through the section of the border that lies in Texas.
Texas accounts for more than half of the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
SIAs are immigrants from a list of “specially designated countries” that “have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members,” explains the U.S. government.
Syria, Sudan, and Iran, which have been officially deemed state-sponsors of terrorism, are on that list.
In an annual report to Congress issued earlier this year, SOUTHCOM explains:
Whether Sunni or Shi’a extremists would wittingly collaborate with criminal groups to accomplish their goals is up for debate. Many people are quick to dismiss the possibility of these groups working together in this part of the world [Latin America, Caribbean]. They believe the absence of evidence of a relationship is evidence of its absence…we at U.S. Southern Command can’t be that certain.
Breitbart News Daily airs weekdays on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM.
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