Robinson pushes White House for details on terror watchlist suspect arrested in NC

The public deserves more information after police in rural North Carolina arrested a man whose name allegedly appears on a federal terrorist watch list, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said Monday.

The suspect in question, Awet Hagos, wasn’t accused by Gates County sheriff’s deputies of engaging in any terrorist activity. Local authorities arrested him last week for resisting arrest, carrying a concealed weapon and assaulting a public official. After he was fingerprinted, multiple media reports indicate, the federal government reached out to inform the deputies not to release Hagos because he was on a terrorism watchlist.

Hagos was being held on an immigration detainer, Robinson said, citing local media reports, which indicated he’s not in the U.S. legally and will allow federal authorities to come take him out of local custody. Local authorities have said Hagos is originally from Africa or the Middle East, and that he was most recently in Haiti before arriving in the U.S. within the past year.

Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, held a press conference Monday to criticize the federal government for not making more details public, such as how Hagos got into the country, why he’s on the terror watchlist or what he was doing in Eure, a small, rural community in northeastern North Carolina near the Virginia border.

Immigration has been a major talking point for Republican candidates across the country ahead of this year’s general election in November. WRAL polling released last week shows that immigration is one of the top issues for many voters statewide, and one that’s especially likely to motivate Republican voters this fall.

“Are there more illegal immigrants on the terrorist watchlist here in North Carolina?” Robinson said Monday. “We deserve answers to these questions.”

Law enforcement officials frequently keep details of ongoing investigations secret. But on Monday Robinson sent a letter to Democratic President Joe Biden asking for more details to be released. It was also signed by the top Republican state legislative leaders, Sen. Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore. In a press advisory Monday morning, Robinson called it an “urgent public safety matter.”

Robinson’s letter notes that Gates County is not far from several large military installations including Fort Liberty, Camp Lejeune and Virginia’s Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s biggest naval station. “If this violent individual has terrorist ties, it’s imperative that we know immediately what these are,” Robinson wrote to Biden.

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But on Monday at a regularly scheduled media briefing in Washington, a reporter asked Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about Robinson's letter and got little in the way of a response. "I don't have anything to share on that," Jean-Pierre said.

Simply being included on the terror watchlist does not necessarily mean someone has ties to terrorist groups. The list contains 2 million names and has frequently been criticized by civil liberties groups for being overly broad and riddled with errors. In 2019 a federal judge ruled that, because of those problems, the list is unconstitutional as applied to American citizens. But the judge gave the government wide discretion on how to make changes, and since then the list has continued to grow. It faces other, ongoing lawsuits.

Robinson said he’s concerned by “a pattern of non-cooperation” from the Biden administration with Republican officials like himself. He pointed to reports of a new detention facility for migrant children that the federal government plans to open in Greensboro. He and several other GOP elected officials have asked for more information about that center, Robinson said, but have received no answers.

When Robinson was asked if he had discussed his concerns about Hagos with Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who is in charge of law enforcement and public safety in North Carolina — and who enjoys a good relationship with Biden — Robinson told reporters that he sent Cooper the same letter he sent Biden on Monday morning.

"The Governor is grateful for law enforcement agencies at all levels for their tireless efforts to keep our communities safe and expects law enforcement to share information with partner agencies and follow the law when making arrests," Cooper spokesman Jordan Monaghan wrote in a statement. "The Governor will continue to work with law enforcement to provide the resources and tools to keep North Carolinians safe and he urges Congress to pass the strongest border security bill in history that is currently being blocked by Republicans at the urging of Donald Trump who wants to use the border issue for his campaign, not solve the problem."

Robinson was asked at his Monday press conference about that immigration bill Cooper mentioned. The proposal failed after Trump, the former president and likely 2024 nominee and who has endorsed Robinson, urged Republicans to vote against it. The bill would’ve spent an additional $20 billion on border security measures, including hiring 7,000 new federal immigration and border agents. In addition to the border funding, the bill also would’ve continued funding to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Robinson said he supported some but not all parts of that proposal, without going into detail.

“That’s a question best asked of our federal delegation,” he said.

The governor and lieutenant governor have long had a strained relationship; Cooper has endorsed Robinson’s opponent for governor this year, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein.

“This case illustrates the gravity of what law enforcement does,” Stein said Monday. “There should be a thorough investigation backed by both federal and state resources to keep North Carolinians safe.”