Honduras Detains 5 Syrian Nationals with Fake Passports

Amid escalating concerns that members of ISIS will manage to infiltrate the United States by posing as refugees comes the discovery of five fake passports. Honduras detained a small group of Syrians Saturday when they were found holding stolen Greek passports. They were on their way to the US. 

According to Fox News, Honduran officials discovered, “five Syrian nationals who were trying to reach the United States using stolen Greek passports,” and to make matters worse, the “Syrians were trying to arrive in the US by land, presumably by traveling through Mexico.” 

According to officials, the stolen passports were doctored with new photos to match the faces of the Syrians. Honduran authorities are on the alert for more attempts. The five Syrians remain in police custody in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

“We received information from police services that these five Syrians left Greece and passed through Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and San Jose in Costa Rica before finally reaching Tegucigalpa,” said Anibal Baca, a spokesman for the Honduran police. 

Due to its location, many migrants on their way to the US pass through Honduras. In recent years, Honduran officials have claimed that “mixed messages” coming from the Obama Administration encourage human trafficking because illegal immigrants are more inclined to risk a trip to America if they believe they have chance of earning legal status when they get there. 

Because the country is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees (1967), Honduras is obligated by law to admit Syrian refugees. Honduras is one of 142 countries to have signed the agreement. 

However, the Central American country is already dealing with a migrant crisis as it attempts to stop thousands of Cuban refugees holding Costa Rican visas from passing through the country. While Honduras supports the Cuban communist dictatorship, Costa Rica remains a staunch American ally and has been forced to absorb the Cuban refugees.