Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Friday that it is not yet releasing the identities of two Jordanian nationals who attempted to breach a Marine Corps base in Virginia — something former officials say raises a number of possibilities about the case.
“We cannot proactively release the names, as this could potentially affect their removal proceedings,” ICE said in a statement.
Officials had confirmed Thursday that there was an attempted breach on May 3 at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia. A Marine base spokesperson said that two people in a box truck had been stopped at a gate.
The driver allegedly told military police officers they were making a delivery to the post office and worked for a company subcontracted by Amazon.
2 FOREIGN NATIONALS IN ICE CUSTODY AFTER ALLEGED ATTEMPTED BREACH AT MAJOR MARINE BASE
“It was at that time, one of the military police officers noticed the driver, ignoring the direct instructions of the officers, continued to move the vehicle past the holding area and attempted to access Marine Corps Base Quantico,” spokesperson Capt. Michael Curtis said in a statement.
Officials later turned them over to ICE after their arrest for trespassing. In a statement, ICE confirmed the arrest of two Jordanian noncitizens and said they were in Enforcement and Removal Operation (ERO) custody, but did not provide any more information about their cases.
“Regardless of nationality, ICE makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with U.S. law and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy, considering the circumstances of each case. ICE officers make decisions on associated enforcement actions and apply prosecutorial discretion in a responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects the communities we serve,” a spokesperson said.
The White House also declined to comment, noting it was a law enforcement matter. That came hours after acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner had said he was familiar with the case and that the two nationals were in removal proceedings — but did not comment further.
Former officials who spoke to Fox News Digital noted that officials are limited by regulation 8 CFR 208.6, which generally blocks disclosure of information to third parties pertaining to asylum applications, credible fear determinations, except for limited circumstances.
“This regulation safeguards information that, if disclosed publicly, could subject the claimant to retaliatory measures by government authorities or nonstate actors in the event that the claimant is repatriated, or endanger the security of the claimant’s family members who may still be residing in the country of origin,” DHS says of the regulation. There is a similar DOJ regulation.
Former officials said this likely means that one or both of the nationals have an asylum claim pending, and noted that releasing the information could impact efforts to remove them.
“They probably made a claim of asylum, or they already had an asylum claim made,” former acting ICE Director Tom Homan told Fox News Digital. “So ICE is protecting information based on [the regulation].”
However, Homan noted that the DHS secretary has authority to override that regulation if there is derogatory information about the nationals, for instance if they have prior criminal or terrorist charges or convictions.
Homan said if that’s the case, then DHS should override the regulation and provide the information.
“I think if there’s derogatory information, these guys are a terror threat then the Secretary has a duty to override 8 CFR. The American people have a right to know, are there terrorists in this country, and it’d be further proof that the border is open to those who want to do us harm.”
He said that if there’s derogatory information on the nationals, then the impact on any asylum case would be irrelevant.
“I think if there is derogatory information, the Secretary should override 8 CFR for the interests and safety of America, because if there’s [derogatory information] on them, it’s not like we’re going to release them into the United States anyways, at that point I don’t care about their asylum case,” he said. “I think that the safety and security of the United States is a little more important.”
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John Fabbricatore, a former ICE field office director who is now running for a congressional seat in Colorado as a Republican, agreed with Homan’s assessment. However, he said that ICE could still be more forthcoming with information.
“If it is an asylum claim, I think ICE should just come out and say, ‘Due to an asylum claim, we’re not going to release these two names, but these two individuals did enter, say, on the southern border illegally, or they entered as students and then claimed asylum later on,” he said. “I don’t see the negative in at least allowing the public to know how the method of entry was, at least that.”
“I don’t think they’re releasing it because I believe that they probably entered illegally over the southern border,” he said.
BORDER PATROL OFFICIALS SAY THREAT POSED BY ‘GOTAWAYS’ AT SOUTHERN BORDER ‘KEEPS US UP AT NIGHT’
Fabbricatore, who authored the new book “DE-ICED,” said the only way ICE doesn’t know their immigration history is if they had somehow managed to enter the U.S. with no detection whatsoever as a gotaway.
“But that’s even more alarming. If these two were gotaways and got in a truck and tried to enter a military base, that’s even more concerning, right?” he said.
Get the latest updates on the ongoing border crisis from the Fox News Digital immigration hub.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
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