Warning Issued Over Iranians Trying to Enter US: What to Know
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Federal authorities issued a warning to Border Patrol agents after a leaked memo showed that Iranian nationals may be planning to enter the United States illegally with assistance from Mexican drug cartels.
Newsweek has contacted Customs and Border Protection for comment via email outside office hours.
Why It Matters
A Border Patrol alert issued a week earlier warned that the likelihood of Iranian sleeper cells inside the U.S. was higher than ever. Agents were instructed not to travel alone as a precaution. Iranians have been thrust into the national spotlight in the U.S. following President Donald Trump's recent strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The U.S. Border Patrol has encountered more than 2,500 Iranian nationals at the southwest border since the beginning of 2021. It remains unknown how many were released into the country under the Biden administration.
Migrants walking near the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on December 19, 2022.
Migrants walking near the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on December 19, 2022.
Christian Chavez/AP
What To Know
According to a memo obtained by NewsNation, Border Patrol received intelligence indicating that 35 Iranian nationals planned to cross the border between the Calexico and San Luis ports of entry from July 1 to July 5.
Agents patrolling the Calexico-to-San Luis corridor have been ordered to stay alert and be prepared for possible encounters.
The warning also suggested that the smuggling operation could be facilitated by powerful cartels, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and Los Salazar.
Los Salazar is a relatively small armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel, founded by Adán "Don Adán" Salazar Zamorano in the early 2000s. Primarily active in Sonora and parts of Chihuahua, the group specializes in trafficking cocaine across the U.S. border and has been linked to migrant smuggling operations. After Don Adán's 2023 extradition to the U.S., leadership passed to his brother Crispín Salazar Zamorano, who continues to maintain the group's close ties to the sons of "El Chapo" and control key smuggling corridors.
The CJNG emerged in 2009 from the Milenio Cartel's splintering and is led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as "El Mencho." It controls major drug routes—especially for fentanyl and methamphetamine—throughout Mexico and has established a presence in all 32 federal entities and at least a dozen countries. It is one of Mexico's most powerful and globally networked criminal organizations.
On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order designating Mexican drug cartels and other Latin American criminal groups as terrorist organizations. According to the order, the groups "threaten the safety of the American people, the security of the United States, and the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere."
What People Are Saying
The memo obtained by NewsNation said: "On Sunday, June 29, 2025, HSI Tip Line received information concerning 35 illegal Aliens of Iranian descent who may attempt entry into the U.S. between the Calexico and San Luis Port of Entry between July. 1, 2025 (today) until July. 5, 2025. Tipster advised that Los Salazars and CJNG may be involved."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
20 minutes ago
- Forbes
Tips And Overtime Deductions In Big Beautiful Bill Create Odd Marriage Incentives
TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump (C) shows his signature on the "Big Beautiful Bill Act" at the ... More White House in Washington, DC, on July 4, 2025. US President Donald Trump signed his flagship tax and spending bill on July 4 in a pomp-laden Independence Day ceremony featuring fireworks and a flypast by the type of stealth bomber that bombed Iran. Trump pushed Republican lawmakers to get his unpopular "One Big Beautiful Bill" through a reluctant Congress in time for him to sign it into law on the US national holiday — and they did so with a day to spare Thursday. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / POOL / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)When President Trump came out for "No tax on tips" during the election campaign, I analyzed two legislative proposals towards that end that were in Congress. So when it came time for me to read the tax provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that is where I focused a lot of attention. You can find it on page 247 at the head of Chapter 2 (Delivering On Presidential Priorities To Provide New Middle-Class Tax Relief) - Bill Section 70201 - No Tax On Tips, if you want to follow along. In general, I find the provision very well thought out, except for one very odd thing. There appears to be a marriage penalty for well tipped servers tying the knot with one another and a marriage bonus for well tipped servers marrying industrious blue collar workers. It Is A Deduction The provision adds Section 224 to the Internal Revenue Code which allows a deduction for "qualified tips". The deduction is limited to $25,000. The deduction is phased out starting at $150,000 of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), $300,000 in the case of joint returns. The phase-out rate is $100 per $1,000 of MAGI. The "modifications" that are added are for income excluded because it was earned by working abroad, in US possessions or Puerto Rico. The deduction is not an itemized deduction. You will be able to claim the standard deduction on top of it. If married you have to file a joint return to claim the deduction. Section 225 adds a deduction for qualified overtime compensation. That deduction is $12,500 or $25,000 in the case of a joint return. The phase-out is the same as for the tip deduction. As with the tip deduction married people have to file jointly in order to claim it. Why is the tip deduction limit $25,000 while the overtime deduction limit is either $12,500 or $25,000 depending on whether it is a joint return? I don't know and as a planner I follow Reilly's First Law of Tax Planning - It is what it is. Deal with it. A Get Together There are five high school friends who get together. They are not married but are thinking about it. They each make about $100,000 per year, Robin and Terry are servers in a pricey restaurant. Most of their income is from tips. Blynn and Ashley are electricians who work a lot of overtime, well above the average. Jesse is an enrolled agent. They get together to celebrate the Big Beautiful Bill. Robin and Terry want to know how much no tax on tips is going to save them and Blynn and Ashley are of course interested in the effect of no tax on overtime. It is up to Jesse to explain to them that that is not how it worked out in the Senate. It was converted to a deduction and there is a limitation. Remember they are all single. Jesse makes a big point of that, because Jesse is a bit on the pedantic side. Robin and Terry will each get a $25,000 deduction. Blynn and Ashley will each get a $12,500 deduction. Jesse, of course, gets nothing other than a lot of aggravation. Not that anybody would care about this, but the whole crew will be getting $75,000 in deductions. Since Jesse made such a big deal about them being single, the question of what happens if they get married comes up. And this is where it gets weird. If Robin and Terry get married their deduction drops to $25,000. If Blynn and Ashley marry they get $25,000 on their joint return. So the whole crew now gets $50,000 in deductions - a marriage penalty. But what if Robin marries Blynn and Terry marries Ashley. Now both couples get $50,000 in deductions or $100,000 for the whole crew - a marriage bonus. There Is More A lot of thought seems to have gone into the tips deduction and I think the details of that are worthy of a separate post. For now I will refer you to Reilly's Third Law of Tax Planning - Any clever idea that pops into your probably has (or will have) a corresponding rule that makes it not work. The statute seems to address many of the ways people might try to game the system. The difference in the limit on tips and overtime for single people, but not married people strikes me as possibly unintentional particularly since the phase-our language is identical. The original House bill did not include any limit at all, so that language was dropped in by the Senate. It reminds me a bit of the "grain glitch" in the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act of 2017. You probably need to be a real tax nerd or a grain farmer to remember that. That was fixed, but this, if it is not what was intended, may be harder to fix. By the way, there was a reason that I have waited to read the Big Beautiful Bill. Starting in 1984, I deeply studied the proposals which ultimately resulted in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. That one was really big, which is why we still call it the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. TRA 1986 made my career. There was, however, a downside to all that study. In the years after enactment, I would often have ideas pop into my head based on provisions that were not enacted. So now I don't read them till they are signed.
New York Post
23 minutes ago
- New York Post
Trump says the US will send more weapons to Ukraine — days after ordering pause in deliveries
President Donald Trump says the US will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after ordering a pause in critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv. The comments by Trump on Monday appeared to be an abrupt change in posture after the Pentagon announced last week that it would hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause to some arms shipments amid US concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much. 'We have to,' Trump told reporters about additional weapons deliveries for Ukraine. 'They have to be able to defend themselves.' Advertisement 'We have to,' Trump told reporters about additional weapons deliveries for Ukraine. 'They have to be able to defend themselves.' AP Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least 11 civilians and injured more than 80 others, including seven children, officials said Monday. Meanwhile, Russian's transport minister was found dead in what authorities said was an apparent suicide — news that broke hours after the Kremlin announced he had been dismissed by President Vladimir Putin. The firing of Roman Starovoit followed a weekend of travel chaos when airports grounded hundreds of flights due to the threat of drone attacks from Ukraine, although Russian officials did not give a reason for his dismissal. Advertisement Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at airports in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but Russian commentators said the air traffic disruptions have become customary amid frequent Ukrainian drone raids and were unlikely to have triggered his dismissal. Starovoit, 53, served as Russia's transport minister since May 2024. Russian media have reported that his dismissal could have been linked to an investigation into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for building fortifications in the Kursk region, where he served as governor before being appointed transportation minister. The alleged embezzlement has been cited as one of the reasons for deficiencies in Russia's defensive lines that failed to stem a surprise Ukrainian incursion in the region launched in August 2024. Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said. Advertisement Russia recently has intensified its airstrikes on civilian areas after more than three years of war. In the past week, Russia launched some 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday. Russia's bigger army is also trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620 miles) front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched. The strain of keeping Russia's invasion at bay, the lack of progress in direct peace talks, and last week's halt of some promised US weapons shipments has compelled Ukraine to seek more military help from the US and Europe. Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine had signed deals with European allies and a leading US defense company to step up drone production, ensuring Kyiv receives 'hundreds of thousands' more this year. Advertisement 'Air defense is the main thing for protecting life,' Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Monday. That includes developing and manufacturing interceptor drones that can stop Russia's long-range Shahed drones, he said. Extensive use of drones has also helped Ukraine compensate for its troop shortages on the front line. One person was killed in the southern city of Odesa, another person was killed and 71 were injured in northeastern Kharkiv and falling drone debris caused damage in two districts of Kyiv, the capital, during nighttime drone attacks, Ukrainian authorities said. Russian short-range drones also killed two people and injured two others in the northern Sumy region, officials said. Sumy is one of the places where Russia has concentrated large numbers of troops. Also, nine people were injured and seven killed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, regional head Vadym Filashkin said. He didn't specify the weapons used. More Russian long-range drone strikes Monday targeted military mobilization centers for the third time in five days, in an apparent attempt to disrupt recruitment, Ukraine's Army Ground Forces command said. Advertisement Regional officials in Kharkiv and southern Zaporizhzhia said at least 17 people were injured. Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said Monday that its troops shot down 91 Ukrainian drones in 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as over the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
Washington Post
30 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Colombia's president backtracks on accusations against US officials in letter to Trump
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian President Gustavo Petro attempted to ease tensions with the United States in June by sending a letter to President Donald Trump saying he did not intend to accuse U.S. officials of trying to overthrow his government. The confidential letter, dated June 23, was leaked to Colombian media outlets on Monday. Relations between the two countries are at their worst since the 1990s, when the U.S. stripped a Colombian president of his visa following allegations that his campaign was financed by drug traffickers.
