The alleged “ringleader” of the explosive drone attack plot against the UFC event at the White House is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was granted Dreamer status by the Obama administration and allowed to stay in the country, Homeland Security said Thursday.
Abraham Alvarez, 31, came to the US as a child and failed to leave the country when his B2 visa expired in 2001, but was granted deportation relief under the Obama administration through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
He was arrested in an old church in the small town of Western, Nebraska, on June 14, which he intended to use as a “safe zone” for himself and his alleged co-conspirators, according to a local report by First Alert 6.
“From his home here in Nebraska, Alvarez allegedly directed and recruited others across the country to conduct a horrific attack against government officials in a mass casualty event,” Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel of the FBI Omaha field office said in a Tuesday release from the US Attorney’s Office.
“Our team worked around the clock to locate and apprehend Alvarez, take him into custody, and collect crucial evidence.”
Alvarez was one of five alleged co-conspirators in the scheme to kill President Trump and other top government officials at the combat sports spectacle held late Sunday on the White House South Lawn attended by thousands of fight fans.
The plotters, who were arrested in Ohio, Missouri and California, allegedly wanted to attack the UFC Freedom 250 event with explosive-laden drones and then pick off fleeing members of the crowd with a team of snipers.
Authorities told the outlet Alvarez was responsible for planning, organizing and directing the coordinated attack, which was thwarted by the FBI and local authorities.
“This illegal alien from Mexico should never have been allowed in our country,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “He was the ringleader of a failed terror attack targeting UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.”
“He will face justice and swiftly be removed from our country,” she added of Alvarez.
Federal investigators are looking into 23 individuals who were allegedly part of the plot.
Those arrested face possible life sentences and a $250,000 fine if convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, with an additional maximum penalty of five years in prison for planning to commit an act of violence on White House grounds.
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