The Department of Homeland Security has revealed that Mexican national Abraham Alvarez is the alleged "ringleader" of the foiled plot to carry out a mass casualty terrorist attack at the UFC White House event on June 14, reports Fox News. In the group chat dedicated to planning the attack, Alvarez reportedly used the name “Shepherd.”
Authorities say Alvarez came to the U.S. as a child and was granted in 2014 deportation relief by the Obama administration through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This happened after he failed to leave the country when his visa expired.
Assailants were going to use drones equipped with explosives to force an evacuation, where snippers would allegedly open fire on the retreating crowd in the panic. Federal authorities claim a “second wave” would have followed the Sunday attack, with the White House gates being stormed.
Investigators found 23 individuals in connection with the terrorist plot, but only five arrests have been made. So far, it is unclear whether Alvarez’s DACA immigration status will be removed if found guilty of being involved.
Ira Mehlman is media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
"This was a potential terrorist attack that could have resulted in mass casualties, and the idea that somebody who was in the country illegally was behind this just makes it all the more reprehensible," Melman states.
This is further, he says, evidence that DACA should be eliminated.
"DACA beneficiaries are still illegal aliens, and this program should be done away with. It took the Republicans years and years to challenge it in courts,” Melman says.
He hopes the court with look at this incident.
“President (Barack) Obama himself said, implementing DACA, that he didn't have the constitutional authority to do it. He simply decided on his own without any authorization from Congress, which has (complete) authority over immigration policy, to decide that he was going to exempt a higher class of people from enforcement of immigration laws," Melman states.
