J.M. Phelps spent a July 8 WorldNetDaily article fearmongering about illegal immigrants by portraying them as terrorists, citing one example in particular: “a pair of Jordanian nationals were arrested for attempting to ram their way into Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia with a box truck. One of the two had recently been screened by the Border Patrol, but was subsequently allowed into the U.S. with no restrictions anyway.” Phelps had one so-called “expert” opine about this:
But for global security expert and Army veteran Ben Varlese, the Jordanians’ attempted terror attack “was nothing more than a test run.”
WND spoke in-depth with Varlese, a former Army Mountain Infantry Platoon Sergeant who served in domestic and overseas roles from 2001-2018, including as a sniper section leader. Since 2018, Varlese has also provided security consulting services for public and private sectors, including tactical training, physical and information security, executive protection, protective intelligence, risk management, insider threat mitigation and anti-terrorism.
“There have been several incidents in previous months,” Varlese told WND, “that serve to highlight the continued national security threat presented by this administration’s encouraged flood of illegal aliens over the last three and a half years.”
[…]“Almost none have been properly vetted,” Varlese told WND, including many thousands of individuals from “hostile or terror haven countries” like Afghanistan, Venezuela, Syria and China. He also pointed out, chillingly, that, “Most of the illegals that have flooded the southern border since … Biden undid all of President Trump’s border policies are military-age males.”
Although “most are likely here for economic reasons,” he said, “there are undoubtedly a significant number of bad actors that have been given a free pass to create sleeper cells in almost every American urban area.”
Don Feder manufactured further rage about this incident in his Dec. 9 column:
Even if the border is closed, the damage has been done. Millions of foreign nationals are roaming the country, including men of military age and those with terrorist ties.
On May 3, two Jordanians who were here illegally attempted to drive a truck onto Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. They were charged with misdemeanor trespassing and released on bail. On Nov. 22, a federal judge dismissed the case. Anything that reflects the danger of illegal immigration is swept under the carpet.
In fact, there was no terrorist attack. As a more credible media outlet reported, the Jordanian nationals were working for an Amazon subcontractor and trying to make a delivery to the post office in the town of Quantico, which can only be accessed through the gates of the military base, and they were confused about where to check in to make the delivery. The charges were dropped because they didn’t commit any crimes, had no known terrorist links and were not on any watch list. They are in the process of being deported.
Feder knew or should have known all this, because it was reported two days before his column was published.
Will Feder correct the record? Will Phelps admit his story was erroneous? WND is not known for publishing corrections unless people complain loud enough (or it’s threatened with a lawsuit).