A 22-year-old Lebanese national with ties to Hezbollah was arrested by U.S. Border Police near El Paso, Texas, after attempting to cross into the country illegally from Mexico.

While in custody, Basel Bassel Ebbadi admitted to having undergone seven years of jihad training with Hezbollah and worked as an armed guard for the terror group in Lebanon for four years. He was on his way to New York to construct a bomb, according to a Border Patrol document obtained by The New York Post.

In a post-arrest interview, Ebbadi contradicted his earlier statements by claiming he had been trying to flee Lebanon and Hamas because “once you’re in, you can never get out,” and he “didn’t want to kill people.”

Ebbadi entered the US without identification, alleging they were stolen at knife point in Costa Rica. He also confessed to using a fictitious name and birthdate. Internal records indicate that Ebbadi is scheduled for deportation, but it remains unclear to which country he will be sent.

Former US President Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration for the increase in illegal immigration and migrant crimes during a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday.

“My administration will end every open border policy of the Biden administration,” Trump stated during the rally, adding that illegals who are guilty of crimes “are not people.”