A Pakistani national, now charged with a murder-for-hire plot against former President Donald Trump, was allowed into the United States on “significant public benefit parole” despite reportedly being on the government’s “watch list.”
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced charges against 46-year-old Asif Raza Merchant of Pakistan for allegedly attempting to carry out a murder-of-hire plot against Trump and other politicians.
In an unsealed complaint against Merchant, federal prosecutors allege that he first flew into George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, on April 13 in the hopes of recruiting U.S.-based assassins to carry out the assassination plot.
According to documents that Just the News obtained, Merchant was interviewed, fingerprinted, and inspected following his arrival at the Houston airport. At the time of his inspection, federal agents noticed that Merchant had taken recent trips to Iran, a hotbed for Islamic terrorism.
Just the News reports that Merchant’s immigration records, available to federal agents at the time he arrived in Houston, “clearly stated in bright red that he was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security database with the identifier ‘WATCH LIST’ and denoted as a ‘Lookout Qualified Person of Interest.'”
Despite this, Merchant was released at the airport and allowed to travel within the U.S. under the terms of his “significant public benefit parole,” which was due to expire on May 11. Merchant was ultimately allowed to stay in the U.S. past his parole expiration date.
Officials told Just the News that Merchant may have been allowed to enter the U.S. on such parole in an attempt by federal agents to get him to cooperate in investigations and turn others, implicated in such schemes, into their custody.
While in the U.S., Merchant was allowed to board domestic commercial flights from Houston to New York City, then from New York City to Boston, Massachusetts, and back to New York City from April through June.
Federal agents arrested Merchant on July 12 as he was allegedly attempting to fly back to his native Pakistan before the murder-for-hire plot was carried out. Merchant, prosecutors allege, was planning to lead the plot from outside the U.S., working directly with assassins he thought he had recruited.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
