A pair of illegal immigrants who attempted to break into a Marine Corps base have been released from jail and will be allowed to stay in the United States.
Jordanians Mohammad K. Dabous and Hasan Y. Hamdan posted bail in June, the New York Post reported Thursday. In May, the pair were arrested for attempting to break into the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia. The duo, who were disguised as delivery drivers, then attempted to ram their truck through a gate when ordered to halt.
The pair appeared in court on July 22 with an Arabic interpreter. Prosecutor Alexander Amico said the charge could carry six months in prison, but did not ask for the men to be held in jail until trial or deportation.
“We ask that the defendant be required to show up to all future court appearances, to all future immigration proceedings, and that he be reminded not to trespass onto Marine Corps Base Quantico or any other military installation,” Amico told Magistrate Judge William B. Porter, according to documents obtained by the Center for Immigration Studies.
Porter signed off on Hamdan and Dabous’s release, stipulating that the pair must appear for future court dates. Their bails were set at $15,000 and $10,000, respectively, the Post reported.
Hamdan allegedly took part in the May 3 intrusion days after illegally crossing the southern border. Hamdan was apprehended by immigration authorities but released into the country, the Post reported. Dabous received a student visa to study in the United States, but stayed in the country after the visa expired.
Quantico did not initially report the attempted break-in, doing so only after a local news outlet reported the story. That outlet, Potomac Local, also reported that one of the men was on the terror watchlist. The Biden administration refused to confirm or deny this fact.
Hamdan and Dabous were not criminally charged at all until weeks after the incident, which prevented their names from showing up in court records.
The Center for Immigration Studies said the Biden administration also blocked a Freedom of Information Act request, claiming it was an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” into the illegal immigrants, and that the intrusion on a military base was of “minimal public interest.”
“The administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid characterizing motivations for the incident or do what most interested parties want: rule out the incident as an attempted terror attack by an illegal border-crosser,” the Center said.
It is unclear why the pair attempted to break into the base.
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