JUNE 07, 2023
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JUDICIAL WATCH
Record Number of Foreigners on FBI Terror Watchlist Caught Crossing into U.S. Via Mexico
While the Biden administration and its media allies highlight that illegal immigration has dropped considerably since the termination of a Trump-era restriction, a record number of suspected terrorists have been caught trying to enter the U.S. through Mexico. Not surprisingly, mainstream news reports have focused on the positive effect that the expiration of a COVID-related rule known as Title 42 has had on migration. One story claims encounters between federal agents and illegal aliens have dropped by half since the administration nixed the emergency public health order implemented by Trump to quickly expel migrants from the country. Another celebrates that the measure’s expiration has “brought fewer migrant arrivals than expected” and quotes Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying that the number of migrants at the southwest border is “markedly down over what they were prior to the end of Title 42.”
In the meantime, a record number of people who appear on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) terror watchlist have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents this fiscal year. In April alone, the frontline Homeland Security agency caught 16 foreigners who appear on the nation’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) trying to enter the country through the southern border, according to the latest government figures. The TSDB contains thousands of records that are updated daily and shared with federal state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement as well as the intelligence community and international partners to “ensure that individuals with links to terrorism are appropriately screened,” according to the FBI. The April figure is more than the total terrorists caught in four previous years—2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 combined. With more than three months till the end of the fiscal year, Border Patrol agents have already encountered 98 migrants that appear on the TSDB list.
The unprecedented figures have caused incredible alarm in Congress and lawmakers who serve on several committees—including Homeland Security, Counterterrorism, Judiciary and Oversight—have launched investigations. Last month they fired off letters demanding answers from Mayorkas, who was shamefully ousted as a Bill Clinton federal prosecutor after orchestrating the pardon of a big-time southern California drug dealer. The first letter warns the DHS secretary that the House Oversight, Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are investigating how his agency is handling “the elevated national security risk presented by an increasing number of aliens with terrorist ties illegally crossing the southwest border into the United States.” Since Biden began reversing policies deterring illegal border crossings the nation has faced historic levels of illegal immigration and the number of individuals with “derogatory information in terrorist screening databases illegally crossing the southwest border has also skyrocketed,” the lawmakers write. They are seeking documents of those apprehended on the southwest border with terrorist ties to assess the national security risk created by terrorist infiltration and determine if DHS handles the cases correctly.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/record-number-of-foreigners-on-fbi-terror-watchlist-caught-crossing-into-u-s-via-mexico/
