U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have removed a press release from their website announcing the arrest of two Yemeni citizens on the cross-border terrorist watchdog that is illegal this year.
Officials removed the release because it “has not been properly reviewed and contains certain disclosure and policy information related to national security,” CBP spokesman Justin Long told The Post on Tuesday.
The press release, which is archived online on Wayback Machine, was originally published Monday but is no longer available on CBP’s website. Clicking on the link sends readers to a page labeled “Access Denied” and “You are not authorized to access this page.” It is not clear when the release was removed.
The deleted statement reads that U.S. border patrol agents from CBP’s El Centro sector in Southern California arrested two Yemeni men in January and March who were found to be on the FBI’s watch list for terrorism and the federal No-Fly list.
The release included two images of the men with black bars over their eyes.
The first man, an unidentified 33-year-old, was arrested on Jan. 29 at about 1:10 p.m., about three miles west of the Calexico Port of Entry, about two hours east of San Diego.
When agents searched the man and performed record checks on him, they found that he had a SIM card under the insole of his shoe and that it was on the FBI’s watch list for terrorism and the No-Fly list.
CBP said in the archived release, the man was transferred under the supervision of immigration and customs enforcement, who is responsible for deporting people to their home countries.
The second incident occurred on March 30 at about 11:30 p.m., when agents arrested a 26-year-old unidentified man about two miles west of the same port and realized he was on the same federal safety lists, the removed release reads.
According to CBP, the man is being held in federal custody “pending removal.”
“Part of the border patrol’s mission is to protect the country from terrorists,” Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino boasted about the release since then.
“Today, like every other day, our agents did it. This fear at our border illustrates the importance of our mission and how we can never guard to be vigilant in our daily mission to protect this wonderful country. ”
When The Post pressured him to elaborate on the apparent security snuff, a CBP spokesman said.
“It is CBP’s policy not to confirm status on any list of investigators, law enforcers or national security,” the spokesman said.
