The alleged ringleader of a mass-casualty terror plot targeting the president and top officials at the White House UFC event was a Mexican illegal alien shielded from deportation by Obama's DACA amnesty — a program both parties still defend.
This isn't about a fight night. It's about an immigration system that let Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez remain on American soil for over two decades after his visa expired, and an executive amnesty that gave him the room to allegedly orchestrate a drone-and-sniper attack aimed at decapitating the U.S. government. DACA didn't just let him stay. It let him plan.
DHS confirmed Thursday that Alvarez, 31, overstayed a B-2 visitor visa that expired in 2001 and was granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status in 2014. The Daily Wire and the Washington Examiner both reported the DHS confirmation. Alvarez came to the U.S. as a child and simply never left — until Obama's executive order turned his illegal presence into quasi-legal stasis.
According to FBI court records reported by HotAir, Alvarez went by the moniker "Shepherd" in an electronic group chat where the attack was planned. He posted maps of D.C. on June 10, directing team positions for counter-snipers and drones with an "easy out into the river." Co-conspirator Tycen Proper, 19, told authorities that "Shepherd" was "the primary individual involved with planning" and "directly stated that Shepherd was the leader of the group and described him as aggressive in tactical planning," the Daily Wire reported.
The plot targeted President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Elon Musk, according to the FBI criminal complaint. HotAir reported that group messages also identified Senators Marsha Blackburn, Jim Justice, Shelley Moore Capito, and Representatives Carol Miller and Riley Moore as targets because they were "recipients of AIPAC funds." The group discussed wanting a target "that can't be easily turned into a right vs left thing" — someone "both sides would celebrate" killing.
The plan: explosive drones to blow the north side of the UFC arena, snipers to gun down evacuees, exfiltration via the Jefferson Memorial and the Potomac. There was talk of a "second wave" targeting power grids.
DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis didn't mince words: "This illegal alien from Mexico should never have been allowed in our country. 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."
Five co-conspirators have been charged; federal investigators are probing 23 individuals total, the New York Post reported. Charges carry potential life sentences.
FBI Special Agent Eugene Kowel said Alvarez "directed and recruited others across the country" from his home in Nebraska.
DACA was never passed by Congress. It was an Obama executive fiat that Republican leadership repeatedly declined to undo — and that a bipartisan coalition in Congress has tried to codify into law. The program remains in force today. Alvarez is living proof of its consequences: an illegal alien, given work authorization and legal cover by executive amnesty, allegedly using that cover to plan a revolution.
The question isn't whether this plot was unhinged. It was. The question is why a program that shields illegal aliens from the consequences of unlawful presence still enjoys bipartisan protection in Washington — even after one of its beneficiaries plotted to assassinate the president.
