An Afghan migrant who spent almost a year inside the country after Border Patrol agents let him go had been on the US terrorism watchlist the whole time, officials have said.
Mohammad Kharwin, 48, had illegally crossed the US-Mexico border in March 2023, and despite being apprehended in California, border agents had let him go.
A piece of information about Kharwin had matched that of a person on the FBI's 1.8 million-strong national terrorist watchlist, but agents did not have access to corroborating information which would confirm he was the person they thought he was.
Customs and Border Protection had taken the 48-year-old's biometric data, but released him following standard migrant processing protocol without alerting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about his possible links to terrorist groups, US officials told NBC.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said US Customs and Border Protection did not "knowingly" release a person on the terrorist watchlist
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Kharwin had been referred to ICE's Alternatives to Detention Program, which required him to check in periodically via phone with ICE officers.
After being released, he was allowed to apply for asylum and was given authorisation to work and travel on domestic flights in the US.
But, according to the FBI database, the 48-year-old is a member of the Afghan paramilitary group Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) - a designated terrorist organisation in the US.
The National Counterterrorism Center describes HIG as "a virulently anti-Western insurgent group" which has killed a number of US civilians and soldiers in Afghanistan - though it is not seen as a high-level threat within the US itself.
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Kharwin had illegally crossed the US-Mexico border in March 2023, and despite being apprehended, border agents had let him go
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In February this year, the FBI shared information with ICE indicating Kharwin's potential terrorist links which flagged he might have posed a national security risk.
Shortly afterwards - and almost a year after he was released - ICE agents arrested Kharwin in San Antonio on February 28, according to sources familiar with the case.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said US Customs and Border Protection did not "knowingly" release a person on the terrorist watchlist, claiming that "at the time of the initial encounter, the information in the record could not have provided a conclusive match."
The spokesperson continued: "As soon as there was information to suggest that this individual was of concern, he was taken into custody by ICE... Law enforcement has been tracking the matter closely to protect against public safety risks."
After Kharwin's February arrest, he was released again last month by an immigration judge who had not been told he was a national security threat.
The 48-year-old was freed on bond ahead of an immigration hearing in Texas, currently scheduled for 2025, according to US officials - but again, there were no restrictions on his movements inside the country.
On Thursday, Kharwin was taken into custody again by ICE agents, a Homeland Security spokesperson said.
A source familiar with the matter said that "based on the information currently available, there is no reason to believe this individual entered the country as part of a terrorist mission."
