Chinese businessman Guan Ying Li negotiated several deals with a Chicago-area business executive to sell weapons to a terrorist group that was trying to overthrow the Peruvian government.

The Chicago executive, however, turned out to be an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent. And Li was busted.

Li, 50, ended up pleading guilty in 2014 to attempting to provide material support and resources to the Shining Path, a communist guerrilla group that has fought the government in Peru for decades. This month, U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in Chicago sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

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It is precisely the kind of case that some critics of another Department of Homeland Security mission — immigration enforcement — believe the agency should be focusing on rather than deporting people who cross the border without permission.

But Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the department cannot fulfill one duty at the expense of others.

“Obviously, these national security cases have to be the top priority, but they shouldn’t be the only priority.”

“Congress should make sure there are enough resources so all of the responsibilities are covered,” she told LifeZette. “Obviously, these national security cases have to be the top priority, but they shouldn’t be the only priority,”

According to the Justice Department, Li sold the undercover agent five thermal batteries designed for use in the man-portable air-defense system known as MANPAD. The surface-to-air missiles would have allowed the Shining Path to shoot down helicopters, including those carrying U.S. personnel.

Li admitted that he shipped the arms from Hong Kong to an address in Central America provided by the undercover agent.

Li also sold eight paratrooper assault harnesses, eight paratrooper backpacks, eight shovels, two VHF radios and four night vision systems, according to his plea agreement. He admitted sending these items from China to Elmhurst, Illinois, at the direction of the undercover agent.

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Vaughan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers often play a role in counterterrorism cases because they so often involve foreign nationals.

“ICE has the expertise to do that,” he said.

In addition, Vaughan said, ICE has offices all over the world and participates on inter-agency task forces involving other federal law enforcement agencies and local police.

This type of cooperation makes some liberals nervous. The Intercept, an online progressive news outlet, published a story last week questioning whether Homeland Security Investigations agents could gain access to records of illegal immigrants from police serving on task forces — even if those officers work for cities with “sanctuary” policies protecting illegal immigrants.

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The story noted that local police deputized as federal agents cannot enforce immigration laws.

“However, HSI receives access to local case files through these task forces, and the task-force agreements do not bar HSI agents from detaining people for immigration violations during their joint operations with local police,” the story states. “Nor do the agreements place restrictions on ICE’s access to data maintained by local police or other municipal agencies.”

Concerns that agents working on terrorism cases will go after illegal immigrants are overblown, Vaughan said. She said that if anything, the opposite is true. During former President Barack Obama’s administration, supervisors who won promotion to special-agent-in-charge positions disproportionately came from the customs side of ICE. They tended to care less about immigration enforcement, she said.

“In some field offices, the immigration cases were ignored.”