A Lebanese man arrested at the southern border told U.S. authorities he traveled from the Middle East because he was a member of the terrorist group Hezbollah and planned to build a bomb once in the United States, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Border Patrol agents in the El Paso, Texas, region arrested Basel Bassel Ebbadi of Lebanon after he illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on March 9, according to an internal government document shared with the Washington Examiner Monday morning.
While in custody, the 22-year-old man told Border Patrol agents that “I’m going to try to make a bomb.” Ebbadi also said he planned to travel to New York.
Border Patrol called in agents from its Tactical Terrorism Response Team to speak with Ebbadi following his initial statement.
After being read his Miranda rights, Ebbadi told authorities that he was a member of Hezbollah, an Iran-funded f …