(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In May, the Justice Department announced charges against two Jordanian nationals illegally present in the United States, who were arrested after attempting to breach Marine Corps Base Quantico in early May.
At the time, the Jordanians—Hasan Yousef Hamdan and Mohammad Khair Dabous—were allowed to post bail and were subsequently released from federal prison, despite Hamdan reportedly being on a terror watch list.
And now, the two men are apparently free. The DOJ filed a motion on Oct. 3 to dismiss charges against them, and the motion was granted on the same day. The motion didn’t explain why the DOJ was dropping the case.
According to the Washington Times, the DOJ now says Hamdan wasn’t actually on a terror watchlist. And the defendants’ attorneys said they were making legitimate deliveries, and were only arrested due to communications issues.
“Prosecutors, in court documents filed in September, said neither man is actually on a watchlist and neither the FBI nor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has national security concerns or other derogatory information,” the Washington Times reported Friday.
“Lawyers for the men, in their court filings, blamed the incident on language barriers, saying Mr. Dabous was making legitimate deliveries in Quantico but didn’t understand the sentry’s directions about stopping.”
According to initial media reports, the illegal immigrants drove a truck to the military installation’s main gate, telling guards they were making a delivery to Quantico Town’s post office.
They allegedly ignored guards’ orders to stop when they could not provide credentials required to gain access to the facility, and they were arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing on military property.
The non-profit transparency watchdog Judicial Watch obtained and released documents in August about Hamdan’s presence on the terror watchlist.
“An ICE officer, whose name is redacted in the document, ‘telephonically confirmed’ to the Marine Criminal Investigations Division (CID) that ‘Hamdan was on a terror watch list,’ the report says, further revealing that ICE personnel assumed custody of Hamadan and Dabous for further processing,” Judicial Watch said in August.
Members of Congress have written to several government agencies, demanding answers about the incident. But they apparently haven’t received any. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green told The Washington Times the administration has been “delinquent” in getting him answers about the matter.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
