ISIS plot would have used weak Mexican border controls to smuggle in attackers.

File photo of ISIS fighters in Raqqa in 2014. Fox News/AP.

A former ISIS fighter described a failed plot to attack financial targets in the United States that would have used America's weak border with Mexico as an infiltration route. Fox News. Abu Henricki a duel Canadian-Trinidadian citizen, who was captured by local SDF forces described the plot. Henricki had joined ISIS but was unfit for combat duty due to poor health. He was then offered a role in the plot, along with many other Trinidadian citizens, who were to use a multi-step process to infiltrate the United States. The attackers would first take a boat from Puerto Rico to Mexico and then would cross the border into the United States and link up with an operative from New Jersey. Once infiltrated into the United States, Henricki or the other operatives would have tried to get jobs with New York financial giants and sabotage them from the inside. Henricki refused the plot and was imprisoned and tortured along with his wife. The plot failed because all of the Trinidadian citizens were killed as ISIS was defeated on the battlefield. 

My Comment:

A dangerous plot from ISIS that thankfully never got off the ground. ISIS was already on the backfoot in late 2016 and was rapidly losing their ability to launch international attacks. And the border with Turkey had already been closed, making an exit from ISIS territories much harder. 

Still, that, along with the reluctance for the Trinidadian fighters to go along with the plot, was the major problem. If they were able to get ISIS fighters into the Western Hemisphere they probably would have been able to attack targets in the United States by infiltrating the US border. Getting to Mexico via boat would have been simple enough and once there it would be easy enough to reach the border. 

Could they have crossed the US border? It's not unlikely. They may have encountered problems with existing border fence/wall and border patrols but there are hundreds of miles of unguarded borders that they could have crossed. And I am sure that local coyotes would have been easy enough to hire to help them get across the borders along with the illegal immigrants. There was a chance that the men could have been detected as they crossed the border or just gotten unlucky in Mexico in a million different ways, but the infiltration portion of the plot could have worked. 

Indeed, where this plot falls apart is not crossing the border, it's what they wanted to do while they were here. An attack on financial institutions is a good target but trying to get a job at one and sabotaging it from the inside seems very unlikely to say the least. Even getting hired would require a false identity that would include experience and references. I don't see these Trinidadian ISIS fighters pulling that off. 

That isn't to say that they couldn't have done some damage. When the financial plot inevitably failed they could have easily decided to attack in different ways. I won't go through all of the ways that a small group of terrorists can commit a major terror attacks without much in the way of planning or funds but previous ISIS attacks should give you a pretty good idea of what someone who is willing to die for a cause is able to do. 

It's a good thing that ISIS was defeated in Syria and Iraq as the threat they now pose is greatly reduced. If they hadn't been it would only be a mater of time before ISIS was able to infiltrate and attack the United States. Our poor border security would be nothing but a speed bump for them. This plot failed largely due to the conditions on the Syrian and Iraqi battlefields, not because of our border security.

I do have to point out that Trinidad and Tobago has been a major source of ISIS recruits. Every time I point it out it just seems strange to me. The last place I think of when I think of Islamic radicals is Trinidad and Tobago, but they do have a major problem with extremism. 

Is there still a threat from terrorists crossing our border? Probably not as much as it once was. Not only is the border a bit more secure with troops near the border and new wall sections going up, the threat from ISIS and other terror groups is greatly reduced. That doesn't mean we shouldn't invest in protecting our border as the threat from international terrorism continues and this plot shows that the risk is real.