Two illegal immigrants at the center of an alleged attempt to breach a prominent United States military base have been allowed to post bail, securing their release from jail.
The two men, Jordanian nationals Hasan Yousef Hamdan and Mohammad Khair Dabous, were originally arrested on May 3 after an incident at the gates of Marine Corps Base Quantico, the New York Post reported.
The men arrived at the base driving a box truck and claiming to be Amazon drivers.
Skeptical, guards refused the truck access and moved to investigate further.
Ignoring the gate guards, the men then allegedly tried to breach the interior of the base before being stopped by anti-vehicle barriers. The men were then taken into custody.
Both men were found to have been in the country illegally at the time of the alleged crime.
It’s unclear what connection beyond nationality the men share or what drove them to arrive at Quantico in May.
Hamdam illegally crossed the southern border in San Diego, California, in April, where he was then captured and released “due to a lack of detention space.”
The other foreign national, Dabous, had overstayed his student visa by the time of the alleged crime.
Should these men have been kept in jail until their trial?
Despite the obvious red flag surrounding the entire incident, the men were let free back into the interior of the country.
Hamdan’s and Dabous’ bonds, set at $15,000 and $10,000 respectively, were both paid, allowing the two men to be released in early June.
“Big-time intel failure, security failure,” a federal law enforcement officer said, per the Post.
“If it wasn’t an act of terrorism, why aren’t the government officials releasing the details of this,” the source said. “What was the intent?”
Despite the severity of the situation — foreign nationals apparently attempting to forcefully breach a sensitive American military base — the men’s basic legal rights are protect inside the United States, including the right to a fair trial.
“They are allowed their due process,” Fox News quoted one federal source as saying.
“There is no information tying either one of them to any nefarious organization.”
The men are scheduled for court in September, but whether they will appear is another matter altogether.
