16 Migrants on Terror Watch-List Apprehended at Southern Border in February

Border Patrol Chief Admits Lack of Operational Control at the Southern Border, Calling it a “Crisis Situation”

Out of the many migrants caught at the southern border in February, 16 were on the FBI’s terror watch-list. This marks a total of 69 apprehensions of such individuals for fiscal year 2023, a trend that is set to exceed the 98 incidents reported in the previous year. According to Fox News, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency only arrested 8 terror watch-list migrants between 2017 and 2020 and 15 in 2021.

Last week, the Border Patrol chief, Raul Ortiz, testified before lawmakers that the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t have operational control of the entire U.S.-Mexico border, which contradicts the assertion made by secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last year. Operational control refers to the prevention of all unlawful entries, including those by terrorists and other illegal migrants.

The situation at the border is challenging and in some cases a crisis, says Ortiz.

It was also reported last week that there has been a 920% increase in the number of Chinese migrants illegally crossing the southern border compared to fiscal year 2022. Border Patrol agents apprehended 90 Chinese nationals, the most in a single day since 2010.