The U.S. government has known for 16 years the Duka family, including Fort Dix Six brothers —Dritan, Eljvir and Shain—were in the country illegally. It’s believed the family unlawfully slipped into the U.S. in 1984 by crossing from Mexico at Brownsville, Texas.

In 1989, Ferik Duka filed a claim for asylum with U.S. immigration authorities, but the application for the family languished inside the federal bureaucracy due to a paperwork “backlog”.

While the asylum application was under consideration, the government effectively suspended any effort to deport family members as illegal aliens, the source familiar with their immigration history said.

Then two years ago, federal immigration officials recommended an investigation by the FBI and Homeland Security agents into possible immigration fraud by the Dukas.

The former INS bureaucracy had been transferred from the Justice Department to the new Department of Homeland Security, where officials were under pressure from Congress and the public to eliminate immigration backlogs and crack down on aliens who had entered the United States illegally.

By late 2005, Homeland Security looked “at the Dukas’s suspicious file and notified both the new Homeland investigations bureau, known as ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and the FBI.”.

Before a thorough immigration fraud investigation could be conducted, however, the Philadelphia-area Joint Terrorism Task Force, responding to a tip-off from a Circuit City clerk who was disturbed at the contents of a video a customer wanted to have copied, launched the undercover terrorism investigation which last week resulted in the arrests of three Duka brothers and three other men on charges of plotting to attack Fort Dix and other targets in the New Jersey area.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, said that government oversights like the ones that evidently plagued the Duka case are “par for the course” in what he called “our don’t ask, don’t tell immigration system. We make it as easy as possible for illegal aliens to live here. 'No' never means 'no'.”

Father of Fort Dix Six Arrested on Immigration Charges

Ferik Duka, the father of three men charged in the Fort Dix terror plot was arrested this week on immigration violations and is in federal custody. “It was unclear why the Duka's had not been charged with immigration violations earlier.”

N.J. Terror Suspects Had Past Run-Ins With The Law

Dritan Duka has past arrests on charges of disorderly conduct and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. He also received six separate speeding tickets and was stopped by police 11 times between 1997 and 2006.

Shain Duka has past arrests on charges of obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension and making physical threats. Shain was repeatedly stopped by police and had 19 suspensions of his license.

Eljvir Duka has past drug counts and had 24 suspensions of his driving permit. He was tagged by the state as a persistent violator.

Corzine Opposes Partnership With Federal Government To Enforce Immigration Laws

According to a report in last Friday’s Star-Ledger, Governor Jon Corzine is a prominent opponent of the 287G program from the Department of Homeland Security, which enables state and local law-enforcement agencies to work with ICE to identify and detain immigration offenders.

It’s clear to us why the Duka's had not been charged with immigration violations earlier - New Jersey is a sanctuary state.

Three of “Fort Dix Six” Jihadis Were Illegal Aliens

Six Islamic radicals planning a heavily armed attack against soldiers at Fort Dix as part of a jihad against the United States were arrested last night in New Jersey. Officials identified the men as Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka, Serdar Tatar, Mohamad Shnewer and Agron Abdullahu.

Five have been charged with conspiring to kill officers of the United States Government, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. The sixth, Abdullahu, is charged with aiding and abetting the others.

“The Duka brothers had been popular in school. Shain drove a Cadillac Escalade SUV. Their family owned a pizzeria.” According to the federal affidavit, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka were also illegal aliens.

"This is a case of thorough and aggressive law enforcement by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and his team. Through a 16-month surveillance effort, they dotted every 'i' and crossed every 't' to ensure that this terror plot did not come to fruition and lead to a loss of lives."