FBI Brings Iraqi Militia Leader Accused of Europe Attacks to Trial in New York

The FBI brought Iraqi national Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi to face trial in New York after the Justice Department charged him with directing nearly 20 terrorist attacks across Europe and plotting attacks on Jewish institutions.

Al-Saadi, a senior member of the Iran-backed Kata’ib Hizballah group, also publicly threatened President Donald Trump and his family, authorities said.

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital that vetting failures and generous social welfare programs have left the United States open to terrorism risks.

"It's not just open borders. We offer so many pathways to immigrate here, either temporarily or permanently, and, unfortunately, every time you offer an immigration benefit, people will flock to it and often commit fraud to obtain it," Ries said.

"When you combine these factors of a prior open border, millions of deportable aliens inside the U.S., common believers for jihad, then that leads to real terror threats inside the U.S.," she said. "Al-Saadi calls on others to carry out jihad, and, unfortunately, there are many who are willing to do it."

Ries said U.S. intelligence assessments for this year and 2025 discussed Iran’s use of surrogate networks inside the United States for long-term attacks.

In the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 11 Iranian nationals who were in the country illegally, including a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member with Hezbollah ties, other IRGC members, a former Iranian army sniper and known terrorists, she said.

One of those arrested, Asif Merchant, described by prosecutors as a trained IRGC operative, was convicted in April of murder for hire and attempting to commit an act of terror.

Ries said the United States must assume more operatives remain inside the country.

She also pointed to widespread fraud in asylum, marriage and visa programs, as well as long-standing programs that brought people who claimed to have helped U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"If people truly assisted the U.S. military, not some attenuated contractor scenario, which is very common, and they deserve protection, then let's protect them," she said. "But that doesn't mean bring them all here, because that is a risky source of threats inside the U.S."

Ries called for narrower immigration policies and stricter vetting. She noted that people from at least 180 countries entered the United States during the Biden administration.

Al-Saadi’s case shows the danger, she said, because he does not need direct contact with people inside the United States who share his views. Similar believers in Europe, Canada and elsewhere remain willing to carry out attacks against Americans and Jews, she added.