There’s no evidence of Hamas training camps in Mexico

Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, launched an attack on Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, beginning a war that has already killed thousands of Israelis and Palestinians.

The militant group’s name is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. 

A viral post with more than 1.5 million views claims Hamas had a training center in Mexico near the Texas border for years, adding that the militant group still has training camps in the country and suggesting they pose a security threat to the U.S. 

THE QUESTION

Is there evidence of Hamas training camps in Mexico?

THE SOURCES

• U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)
• Javed Ali, Ph.D., associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
• Peter Trumbore, Ph.D., professor and chair of the political science department at Oakland University in Michigan
• Jason Blazakis, a professor of practice and director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

THE ANSWER

No, there isn’t evidence of Hamas training camps in Mexico.

WHAT WE FOUND

According to federal government agencies and experts who study terrorism and international conflict, there is no evidence that Hamas has established a training center or camps in Mexico.

In its most recent report for Congress on terrorism in Mexico, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism said “there was no credible evidence indicating international terrorist groups established bases in Mexico, worked directly with Mexican drug cartels, or sent operatives via Mexico into the United States in 2021.”

A spokesperson for DHS said the agency has “no evidence” to suggest the claims about Hamas training camps in Mexico are true. 

RELATED: No, U.S. taxpayer money did not fund the Hamas attack on Israel

Three experts from outside the government agree that the online claim is baseless. 

There aren’t any “credible reports that Hamas has established any training camps in Mexico,” Jason Blazakis, a professor and director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told VERIFY. 

Peter Trumbore, a political science professor and international conflict expert at Oakland University, said he is “unaware of any evidence” of Hamas training camps in Mexico or anywhere outside of the Middle East.

“Further, and as it relates to Hamas specifically, their ideological motivation makes it, in my mind, unlikely that they would seek to target U.S. interests or carry out attacks within the territorial boundaries of the United States,” Trumbore said. 

Hamas emerged in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising as an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the federal government’s National Counterterrorism Center. The militant group seeks to create an “Islamic Palestinian state in Israel’s place,” the Center says.

According to the Center, Hamas primarily operates in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. It also maintains a presence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and “key regional capitals” throughout the Middle East, the Center says. 

Mexico is not included on the Center’s list of operating areas for Hamas.

Hamas has “never conducted an external attack in the Americas or anywhere outside of Israel,” Javed Ali, an associate professor of practice and national security expert at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, said.

Though Hamas “demonstrated a significant escalation in capability” with its attack on Israel, Ali said, he believes the group lacks “that capability outside of their immediate territory in the Gaza Strip.”

Similar claims about ISIS operating a camp near Texas have also been unfounded, according to PolitiFact.