Rick Perry’s Islamic State remark joins a list of Mexican-border terror threat claims

MEXICO CITY — Hezbollah crossed from Tijuana into the United States. A member of Somali extremist group Al Shabaab was deported from Mexico. An Al Qaeda operative appeared in Honduras. The list of allegations runs on.

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry said last week the Islamic State (IS) could have crossed over the Rio Grande, he sparked quick denials from the Pentagon and Mexican government.

However, his comment is only the latest in a series of claims by US officials since 9/11 that radicals from the Middle East to the Horn of Africa have taken advantage of Mexico’s porous borders and the networks of gun, drugs and human trafficking stretching into the Americas.

Some have been pure speculation. Others are downright bizarre. But others have appeared to be true, and there have been arrests, convictions and deportations of people in Mexico for alleged links to groups designated as terrorists.

This AP story appeared in USA Today in August 2004.

Born in Saudi Arabia, El Shukrijumah is a citizen of the South American country Guyana, according to the FBI, explaining his links in the region. He was indicted for being part of the 9/11 attacks and is accused of trying to build a dirty bomb with nuclear materials.

The Maras boast tens of thousands of heavily armed members across Central America and the US.

However, no further evidence of the strange alliance was reported.

Claim 3: Al Shabaab hoarded explosives in Mexico City

In June 2010, Mexican marines raided a house in Mexico City's La Roma neighborhood, close to the US Embassy. Later, a leaked report from the marines cited by media outlets said the house contained about 50 pounds of explosive material and detonators. They had discovered the stash by following a Somali national who worked for Al Shabaab, the report said.

The Mexican marines issued a statement denying the veracity of the report. However, an official at the US Embassy confirmed to GlobalPost that an alleged Al Shabaab operative had been deported from Mexico that year.

Furthermore, in May 2010, the Department of Homeland Security asked Houston police to be alert for an Al Shabaab operative who may have traveled through Mexico. And in that same month, a flight from Paris to Mexico was grounded in Canada so that a Somali passenger could be ordered off that plane and handed to US officials.

Claim 4: Iranian agents tried to hire Zetas cartel

Guns, ammo and this curious illustration were among the items Mexican officials seized from alleged Zetas members in 2012. (Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images)

In 2011, US Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that federal agents had foiled a bizarre plot by Iranians to hire members of Mexico’s ultra-violent Zetas drug cartel to attack Saudi and Israeli targets in Washington and Argentina. However, the plot never progressed as the Iranians — including a car salesman and an alleged officer of Iran’s elite Quds Force — unwittingly tried to hire informants from the Drug Enforcement Administration posing as Zetas, Holder said.

Iran’s government said it was outraged by the accusations. However, there was some speculation the Iranians involved were rogue elements. In 2013, a Manhattan court sentenced one of them to 25 years in prison.