Two Jordanian Men Charged with Unlawfully Entering Marine Corps Base in Virginia Have Cases Dismissed
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter dismissed the misdemeanor charges against Hasan Hamdan and Mohammad Dabous on October 3, the same day that U.S. attorneys for the Eastern District of Virginia filed a motion to dismiss the charges against the men. The attempted breach occurred on May 3, when the two men, who were said to be in a box truck, were stopped at a gate on Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. The driver allegedly told military police officers that they were making a delivery to the post office and worked for a company subcontracted by Amazon.
An investigation revealed that one of the Jordanian men had entered the U.S. illegally in April and was released, while the other was a foreign student whose status was terminated in January. Department of Homeland Security sources stated that neither man has a criminal history in the U.S., and the FBI would not say if the suspects were on a terrorist watchlist.
The incident led to increased scrutiny of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and demands for transparency from the Biden administration. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also wrote a letter to President Biden, criticizing the government’s failure to secure the southern border and provide notice of illegal migrant relocations to state governments. The cases against Hamdan and Dabous were dismissed “without prejudice,” but it is unclear why this decision was made. Court documents stated that “the ends of justice are best served by this dismissal.”