Iran Tries to Exploit Our Immigration Chaos to Carry Out Political Assassinations in the U.S.

FAIR Take | August 2024

Good intelligence and well-coordinated law enforcement work averted a potential tragedy last month.

On July 12, the FBI arrested Asif Merchant, a 46-year-old Pakistani national, in Texas, as he was preparing to leave the United States. Merchant is alleged to be an operative of the Iranian government who was sent to the U.S. to arrange a political assassination. According to reports, one of the targets of the assassination plot was former President Donald Trump, in retaliation for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone attack. Soleimani is believed to have been the mastermind of numerous terror attacks carried out by Iranian proxy groups around the world.

Ironically, Thomas Crooks made an unrelated attempt to assassinate the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania just one day after the FBI arrested Merchant. But according to court documents, the political assassination plot Merchant was planning was much more sophisticated than Crooks’ attempt, which came within inches of killing former President Trump. “Working on behalf of others overseas, Merchant planned the murder of U.S. government officials on American soil,” stated U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York, the prosecutor in charge of this case.

Indeed, the DOJ complaint filed against Merchant, based on information provided by FBI Special Agent Anthony Cipriano, indicates that multiple people were involved in the plot. It reads, “Using the plural tense to indicate he was working with people overseas, MERCHANT stated that ‘we,’ would give the instructions, including the target name, to the hitmen either the last week of August 2024 or the first week of September 2024, when MERCHANT was out of the U.S.” Merchant seemed to have ample cash to hire hitmen to take out his intended target or targets. In fact, he paid $5,000 in cash to someone who turned out to be a confidential source working with U.S. law enforcement.

Merchant also appeared to have a list of “clubs” in the New York City area where he could recruit people who would momentarily divert the attention of law enforcement officials assigned to protect the target. Merchant sought “approximately twenty-five people who could perform a protest as a distraction after the murder occurred, and a woman to do ‘reconnaissance.’” In addition, “he instructed the [confidential source] to drive him around New York City looking for clubs where he could recruit other individuals to assist in his plot. On or about June 6, 2024, MERCHANT had the [confidential source] drive him around Brooklyn to scout clubs.”

As we know now, the plot never came to fruition. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies and government entities did a commendable job in foiling this Iranian threat before it ever got off the ground. But it does indicate that our enemies – in this case Iran – understand our vulnerabilities and are prepared to exploit them in order to inflict damage on this country.

First, it appears that Merchant was able to procure some sort of visa or similar paperwork that authorized him to travel to the United States. Pakistan is not part of the Visa Waiver Program, meaning that he needed to go to a U.S. embassy or consulate to apply for one, and undergo some sort of background check. He seemingly cleared that hurdle (because he was able to book a flight to the United States), even though he had a travel history that should have raised red flags. He was a frequent visitor to Iran and Syria. Additionally, he is a self-confessed bigamist (he had a wife and children in Pakistan and a second family in Iran) which can be grounds for denying entry to the U.S.

It is unclear at what point in the process Merchant’s travel plans to the United States came on to the FBI’s radar scope. But, it is likely that he was identified as a possible threat and a possible lead to others who might pose a danger. When he landed in New York in April, he was paroled into the country, likely without his knowledge. According to a former high-level Homeland Security official who spoke with FAIR, paroling in criminals or security threats so that they can be tracked is a legitimate law enforcement technique. It also has risks, as law enforcement may lose track of the alien or the alien may execute his criminal plans before law enforcement can stop him.

The affidavit filed with the court also suggests that the Iranian regime was confident that Merchant would be able to find and recruit accomplices who were already present in the United States. The confidential source repeatedly referenced “clubs” in this country where individuals willing to aid and abet in an assassination or terror plot could be found.

This was not the first instance of Iran using U.S.-based operatives to carry out politically motivated attacks. In 2022, Iran sent three hitmen to kill Masih Alinejad, an Iranian author and dissident, in her Brooklyn home. Fortunately, that plot also failed. At the time, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan noted that the incident “follows a disturbing pattern of Iranian government-sponsored efforts to kill, torture, and intimidate into silence activists for speaking out for the fundamental rights and freedoms of Iranians around the world.” Iran, through its proxy terror group Hezbollah, was also behind the 2022 attack that nearly killed author Salman Rushdie in Chautauqua, New York.

Luck, however, is not a strategy for protecting national security and preventing hostile governments and terror groups from carrying out attacks on our soil. Securing our borders, properly scrutinizing visa applicants (especially those classified as Special Interest Aliens), ending catch-and-release policies and halting the Biden-Harris administration’s illegal and fraud-ridden parole programs are strategies that must be pursued in light of compelling evidence that our enemies and adversaries are exploiting our vulnerabilities. The goal must be to prevent people who pose a threat to the nation from entering the country.

Unfolding events in the Middle East that have already resulted in direct Iranian attacks against U.S. military bases in the region, which threaten to draw the United States into direct conflict with Iran and only increase the likelihood of an Iranian sponsored attack in the United States. We must assume that Iran and others will continue their efforts to inflict damage on our country and take advantage of any opportunity we give them.