Suspect accused of shooting Jewish man On several occasions while visiting a Chicago synagogue last week, there was an illegal Mauritanian immigrant who had been released in the United States last year, Fox News confirmed.

Four law enforcement sources say Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, a Mauritanian national, was apprehended in the San Diego Border Patrol sector in March 2023 and was released in the United States.

Police said he attacked the victim, a 39-year-old man, Saturday morning in Chicago’s West Rogers Park neighborhood. Police said the suspect was identified less than 30 minutes after the shooting, after which he allegedly shot at responders before police “retaliated, striking the offender.” The victim, who was wearing traditional Jewish clothing, survived the attack.

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Police are investigating a shooting that occurred Saturday, October 26, in the West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. (Fox32 Chicago)

Police said they recovered a weapon at the scene and that Abdallahi was “taken into custody, transported to an area hospital and subsequently charged accordingly.” Abdallahi faces 14 charges, including six attempted murder.

Mauritania is a predominantly Muslim country in northwest Africa. The Department of Homeland Security considers illegal immigrants from Mauritania to be “aliens of special interest” for security reasons, and they are supposed to be subject to additional DHS screening.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initially told Fox News Digital that she had no interactions with him. Law enforcement sources say there is a detainer request for Abdallahi – a request that he be transferred to ICE custody if released – but that Cook County’s “sanctuary” policies Illinois, prohibit local authorities from cooperating with him.

Local Jewish leaders believe this was a targeted hate crime, but no hate crime charges have been filed at this time.

There has been a significant increase in Mauritanian arrivals, putting pressure on cities like Lockland, Ohiowhere more than 3,000 migrants arrived in a village of 3,500 inhabitants. A Washington Post An analysis in June found that more than 15,000 Mauritanian residents arrived in the United States last year, a 2,800% increase from 2022, when only 543 arrived.

This split shows the Mauritanian immigrants at the border and the Lockland village administrator. (John Moore/Getty Images and Fox News Digital)

The incident echoes ongoing concerns about the possibility of terrorists crossing the southern border, amid the massive number of migrants who have crossed the border during the border crisis.

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A House report in August found that of the more than 250 illegal immigrants on the terrorist watch list who were encountered by the Border Patrol at the southwest border between fiscal years 2021 and 2023, DHS released some at least 99, with at least 34 others in DHS custody, but not yet removed from the United States

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The interim staff report of the IMF also found that immigration judges had granted bail to at least 27 migrants on the watch list who entered illegally and that Border Patrol had encountered tens of thousands of migrants from countries that may pose risks to national security, including 2,134 Afghan nationals, 33,347 Chinese nationals, 541 Iranian nationals. nationals, 520 Syrian nationals and 3,104 Uzbek nationals.

“This does not include the countless number of would-be terrorists who have evaded Border Patrol to enter the United States in the nearly 2 million ‘escapes’ since the start of the Biden-Harris administration,” the report says.

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The threat from foreign nationals made headlines this month when authorities announced the arrest of an Afghan national, accused of hatching a terrorist plot on Election Day, who had been released on parole in the United States in the context of the hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Greg Norman of Fox News contributed to this report.