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O’Keefe Documentary Spreading Awareness Of Border Holes To ISIS

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants and sympathizers are citing a documentary published earlier this month by James O’Keefe which showed how easy it is to cross the Rio Grande River from Mexico into the U.S., according to a Texas Department of Public Safety email published by Breitbart News.

The email is titled “Possible ISIS Interest on the US Southwestern Border” and is authored by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism division and the department’s Joint Intelligence Operations Center.

Breitbart posted the leaked document on the same day that watchdog group Judicial Watch published a report claiming that ISIS is now operating in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which lies across the border from El Paso.

According to Judicial Watch, which cited unnamed “high-level” sources, ISIS poses an “imminent threat” to the U.S. and plans to set off car bombs and other explosives.

According to the email published by Breitbart, the JIOC received information on Friday from Texas DPS’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism division “regarding ISIS social media messaging showing an elevated interest in the belief that they can infiltrate the southwestern border of the United States (US) for terrorist attacks.”

The Daily Caller was unable to verify the email or the seriousness of the threat. Requests for comment from the Texas Department of Public Safety were not returned.

Without mentioning O’Keefe by name, the email cited a short documentary the conservative filmmaker published on Aug. 11 in which he used an Osama bid Laden costume to show how easy it is to cross the U.S. border, despite claims by many Democrats that the border is secure. (RELATED: James O’Keefe Crosses The US-Mexico Border Dressed As Osama Bin Laden)

“On August 11, 2014, an American Reporter published a video on social media of him walking undetected across a section of the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas wearing an Osama bin Laden costume. The reporter also showed it was a six mile walk from where he crossed the river to the Interstate 10 Highway and was able to reach it undetected.”

The email includes several photos from O’Keefe’s film.

The Texas DPS Intelligence & Counterterrorism determined that ISIS’s social media messages could be classified into two categories, according to the email posted by Breitbart.

One category includes “Outright calls for ISIS to infiltrate the southern border through Mexico to stage terrorist attacks.”

The other involves “Spreading awareness to potentially thousands of ISIS militants and sympathizers about the border’s vulnerability based on the August 11, 2014 broadcast of the video by an American reporter crossing the Rio Grande in a Osama bin Laden costume.”

According to Breitbart, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents in the Lardeo and El Paso sectors confirmed that they had received warnings about the ISIS threat.

On Friday, Department of Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson said that he is “unaware of any specific, credible threat to the U.S. homeland” from ISIS. That despite Britain’s decision Friday to raise its terror alert level.

The terrorist organization has attacked American interests in Syria and Iraq and is responsible for the beheading of American journalist James Foley. That act was carried out in response to the U.S. bombings in northern Iraq, the group claimed.

ISIS has relied heavily on social media in order to recruit new members and to show the world their violent acts. Two such members the organization recently brought into the fold are Americans from Minnesota who were killed this week while fighting in Syria. (RELATED: JIHADI HIGH: This High School Has Now Produced Two Dead American Terrorists)

Update: Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger responded to TheDC’s request for comment after publication, saying “As a general rule, DPS does not discuss any information that may compromise operational security, law enforcement safety or that is law enforcement sensitive.”

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