Report: Pakistani Charged With Murder Plot Against Trump Was Allowed Into U.S. on ‘Public Benefit Parole’
A Pakistani national, now charged with a murder-for-hire plot against former President Donald Trump, was allowed into the United States on “significant public benefit parole” despite reportedly being on the government’s “watch list.”
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against 46-year-old Asif Raza Merchant of Pakistan for allegedly attempting to carry out a murder-of-hire plot against Trump and other politicians.
In an unsealed complaint against Merchant, federal prosecutors allege that he first flew into George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, on April 13 in the hopes of recruiting U.S.-based assassins to carry out the assassination plot.
According to documents that Just the News obtained, Merchant was interviewed, fingerprinted, and inspected following his arrival at the Houston airport. At the time of his inspection, federal agents noticed that Merchant had taken recent trips to Iran, a hotbed for Islamic terrorism.
Just the News reports that Merchant’s immigration records, available to federal agents at the time he arrived in Houston, “clearly stated in bright red that he was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security database with the identifier ‘WATCH LIST’ and denoted as a ‘Lookout Qualified Person of Interest.’” (Read more from “Report: Pakistani Charged With Murder Plot Against Trump Was Allowed Into U.S. on ‘Public Benefit Parole’” HERE)
