Concerns about whether terrorists are exploiting the migration crisis along the border between the United States and Mexico to enter the country have intensified following the brutal terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel last weekend.
Republican lawmakers, Republican presidential candidates, and conservative media figures argue that the Biden administration’s border policies provide terrorists with an easier way to enter the U.S.
On Monday (9), former President Donald Trump claimed that the “same people” who killed or kidnapped over a thousand civilians in Israel are crossing the southern border, although he provided no evidence to support this assertion.
There has been a sharp increase in the apprehensions of individuals by the Border Patrol with matches on the U.S. terrorist watchlist in the past two years. However, these apprehensions represent a small fraction of all immigrants processed along the border. It is important to note that not everyone on the watchlist is suspected of terrorism.
In fiscal year 2023, the Border Patrol reported the apprehension of 151 migrants with matches on the terrorist watchlist, a record. In fiscal year 2022, there were 98, and in 2021, only 15.
Including those processed at official ports of entry, there were 227 people with matches in the terrorist database in fiscal year 2023. A very small fraction – less than 0.01% – of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who illegally enter the U.S. each year.
With this, the concern about whether the U.S. has enough tools to ensure national security is valid. An interesting fact: the apprehension of individuals with matches in the FBI’s terrorist database is much more common along the border separating the U.S. and Canada, despite the much lower levels of illegal migration there. For example, Customs and Border Protection recorded over 430 occurrences on watchlists along the northern border in fiscal year 2023, the vast majority of which were at official ports of entry.
Source: CBS News