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More illegal immigrants on a terror watch lift have been caught crossing the southern border so-far this year than during the last five years combined, figures reveal.
Since the fiscal year began in October, 50 migrants who appeared in the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset have been intercepted while trying to cross into the US between official checkpoints at the southern border, according to Customs and Border Patrol statistics.
That’s up from just 15 for the 2021 fiscal year, three in 2020, none in 2019, six in 2018 and two in 2017 according to the enforcement statistics data released on Wednesday by CBP.
It comes as overall illegal border crossings surge to new records and President Biden is blasted for what many see as his lax attitude to illegal immigration, compared to Donald Trump’s unashamedly hardline stance during his time in office.
In May, encounters at the southern border hit a new all-time high of 239,416, according to figures released earlier this week.
The number of migrants who appeared in the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset who were apprehended trying the cross the southern border unlawfully has surged in recent months
Smugglers look skyward as they are followed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter after transporting migrants across the Rio Grande river into the U.S. on Thursday
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said he believes that individuals with terror ties are attempting to take advantage of the chaotic situation on the border to sneak into the country.
‘These aren’t people that are coming here because they want to work at a hotel or a restaurant,’ Brnovich told Fox News in an interview.
‘These are people clearly that are using this crisis, this lack of border security in order to endanger our national security. And that’s why we’re seeing these unprecedented numbers.’
The subject of potential terror suspects using the southern land border to enter the US unlawfully has gained increasing attention in recent months.
CBP only resumed publishing its data on the subject last month, following pressure from Republican lawmakers.
Soon after President Joe Biden took office, CBP stopped posting updates on terror watchlist encounters, labeling the issue ‘law enforcement sensitive’.
Lawmakers visited the United States border with Mexico in Texas and were given a tour by the National Border Patrol Council on Friday
In March, Republican Representatives James Comer and John Katko urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandra Mayorkas to publicly release the numbers of migrants who were stopped at the southern border and whose names are listed on the Terror Screening Database.
‘It is no secret that terrorists and other bad actors attempt to exploit weakness in border security and vetting to enter the United States,’ the lawmakers wrote.
‘Reporting indicates that multiple individuals with terrorist ties have been recently apprehended after illegally crossing the border, and that such encounters may be increasing. The American people deserve to know whether President Biden’s weak border policies are allowing terrorists to enter our homeland.’
In December – which is part of the ongoing 2022 fiscal year – U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Yuma Sector busted a 21-year-old Saudi Arabian national with ties to a Yemeni terror group.
While the man’s name was not released, the sector confirmed him ‘as a positive match linked to several Yemeni subjects of interests.’
In an unusual twist, the suspect was wearing a volunteer paramedics jacket from an ambulance company in Central Oneida County, New York.
Homeland Security officials have said that border resources are exhausted when agents face 5,000 migrants per day. Last month, they saw nearly 8,000 per day.
Border agents say there were a higher-than-usual number of repeat crossings in May due to the fact that migrants expelled under Title 42, a pandemic-era restriction currently tied up in court, face no legal repercussions if they try to cross again.
The number of unique individuals attempted to cross in May was 177,793, and 25 percent of those stopped by agents had attempted to cross at least once before in the prior 12 months, according to CBP. The average re-encounter rate prior to Title 42 was 15 percent.
Most migrants attempting to cross in May were not families but single adults – 69 percent.
And unlike previous months, Title 42 is no longer the main authority under which migrants are expelled, only 42 percent of migrants were removed under the CDC’s health order.
Most of the migrants expelled under Title 42 were single adults – only about one in six who came in families with children under 18 were subject to Title 42. Unaccompanied children are exempt from the rule.
Fifty-eight percent were expelled under Title 8. Under Title 8, a U.S. immigration policy used when migrants who try to cross unlawfully cannot establish any ‘credible fear’ basis for being in the country. DHS has said it will expand use of Title 8 once Title 42 is gone.
The Biden administration planned to end Title 42 on May 23 but a federal judge in Louisiana blocked the move three days before.
Migrants have been expelled more than 2 million times without a chance to seek asylum since the rule took effect in March 2020.
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