23 suspected terrorists detained at the US-Mexico border by CBP agents

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended 23 illegal immigrants on the U.S. terror watchlist along the southern border, in 2021.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Fox News, CBP stated that the individuals’ names appeared in the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), an FBI-managed list created after 9/11 to stop terrorist sympathizers from entering the U.S. The list is distinct from the smaller ‘No-Fly List’ maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The apprehensions were spread out across the 1,954-mile Southern Border.

Among the migrants apprehended in Texas, four were stopped in the Rio Grande Valley and Del Rio Sectors, respectively, while three were stopped from crossing at El Paso, according to the CBP’s FOIA response. In Arizona, two were stopped at in Yuma and Tucson Sectors. In California, eight were apprehended at the El Centro and San Diego Sectors.

The FOIA request covered the period from January 20, the first day of the Biden Administration, to December 27, 2021, just over eleven months later.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly called on the Administration to release the names of individuals on the TDSB, citing the high risk posed by their entry through the southern border. Last month, Representatives John Katko (R., N.Y.) and James Cormer (R., K.Y.) – the ranking members of the House Oversight and Homeland Security committees, respectively – wrote “The American people deserve to know whether President Biden’s weak border policies are allowing terrorists to enter our homeland.”

This was echoed by former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, who served during the Trump and Biden Administrations, and said that terrorist sympathizers were crossing the southern border “at a level we haven’t seen before.”

The release of the FOIA report comes as the Biden Administration moves to end Title 42 on May 23, a statute that allowed summary expulsions of illegal immigrants during the Covid pandemic, which is expected to increase migrant traffic along the border. CBP and Border Patrol agents have reported feeling overwhelmed by the increase in migrants. Voicing the sentiment of his colleagues, one agent told NR’s Carine Hajjar that “this is the worst I’ve ever seen it . . . this administration doesn’t care.”

The names of the individuals apprehended, as with all persons listed on the TDSB, remain classified.

Source: Crisis Grupo

Mexico Daily Post