Screenshot / YouTube WRAL, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

North Carolina has now officially joined the ranks of states grappling with immigrant-related terrorism concerns, highlighting a broader national security issue far from the U.S.-Mexico border.

The incident unfolded in Gates County's rural northwest, where Awet Hagos, reportedly from Yemen or a nearby region, created chaos by firing a rifle outside a Carolina Quick Stop store in Eure.

Upon responding to the scene, Gates County Sheriff's deputies faced resistance from Hagos, who then barricaded himself in a four-hour standoff.

Only after this did U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) run fingerprints , Todd Bensman of The Federalist reports.

Sheriff Ray Campbell revealed that Hagos, wanted by ICE on a terrorism watch list, was eventually apprehended on assault and weapons charges.

Campbell disclosed that Hagos, who had resided in Haiti and hailed from an area near the Yemen border, had been brought into the region by the store owner.

Hagos awaits adjudication on state charges before potential ICE pickup, currently held in Albemarle District Jail under a $100,000 bond.

These developments prompted North Carolina's Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, to demand answers from President Joe Biden regarding Hagos's entry and movements within the state.

Despite Robinson's efforts, local media coverage, including from The Carolina Journal, remained limited, even as the state witnesses an influx of over half a million immigrants.

Highlighting broader security concerns, homeland security experts underscored the vulnerability of border management infrastructure to infiltration by individuals associated with terrorist ideologies.

The Biden administration's 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment warns of potential exploitation of security vulnerabilities, particularly at the southern border, with 160 terror suspects detained in fiscal year 2023 alone.

Since the onset of the border crisis in January 2021, Border Patrol has apprehended 340 watch-listed immigrant terror suspects attempting illegal crossings, while an alarming 2 million individuals evaded capture, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.

In recent months, New York authorities apprehended a Senegalese man wanted in his home country for “terrorist activities,” highlighting concerns about security vulnerabilities within the American interior.

Additionally, a Pakistani illegal immigrant, flagged on the watch list, was inadvertently released before being recaptured by U.S. authorities the following day.

These incidents, coupled with ICE's belated identification of the Yemeni individual in North Carolina as a watch list match, prompt scrutiny over potential oversight by authorities.