New data from Customs and Border Protection reveals an alarming increase in the number of individuals on the FBI’s terror watchlist who were caught illegally crossing into the US.
The report shows sixteen people on the FBI’s terror watchlist were apprehended in February alone.
Of course, that figure can only represent those who were caught.
That brings the total number of individuals on the watchlist who attempted to enter the country via the southern border this year to an astonishing 69.
In 2022, over the entire year, a record setting 98 total terror watchlist arrests were recorded. 2021 saw 15 apprehensions, and between 2017-2020 there were just 8 total.
2023 is on pace to smash that record by an alarming amount, as reported by Fox News.
Border Out of Control
The numbers were released only hours after Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz testified to a House Homeland Security Committee. He said the Department of Homeland Security has no operational control of the border.
The Department continuously claims the border is secure and says it is more focused on “domestic extremists” radicalized by “false narratives propagated on online platforms” than foreign terrorists.
Ortiz also testified that there have been over 380,000 known “getaways” at the border since fiscal year 2023 began, and that the real number is likely “between 10% and 20%” higher.
Instead of using materials it already owns to reinforce the border, the Department of Defense under the Biden administration spends nearly $50 million a year in storage fees instead.
In some cases, since the Biden administration cancelled border wall contracts secured by former President Donald Trump, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of security devices that could be used at the border are simply being thrown away.
“Some of these materials, to include security cameras, overhead lights, and electrical and stormwater materials are being disposed of in accordance with federal excess material disposal laws and regulations,” a statement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.
“The total value of these materials is estimated at approximately $300 million. However, the cost to the government cannot be finalized until audits are completed and negotiations with contractors are concluded.”
