Department of Homeland Security prioritizes illegal immigrants’ privacy over Americans’ right to information on terrorist watchlist

The Biden administration on Wednesday refused to reveal the nationalities of individuals on the terrorist watchlist who were arrested crossing the border — on the same day it was revealed that an illegal immigrant on the list was arrested for attempting to infiltrate the Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia.

The Department of Homeland Security denied a Freedom Of Information Act request for the data from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, writing, “The privacy interests of the individuals in the records you have requested outweigh any minimal public interest in disclosure of the information. Any private interest you may have in that information does not factor into the aforementioned balancing test.”

Melugin said on X that DHS was citing exemptions “that have nothing to do with my FOIA request,” saying that he “did not ask for any names, IDs, addresses, anything that would breach privacy, nor did I ask for any law enforcement sensitive information.”

“I simply requested *only* the nationalities of people arrested on the list, so the public can have an understanding of where in the world they are coming from.”

On the same day that DHS denied the request, a local news outlet discovered that the administration had concealed that on May 3, two men drove a truck up to the Quantico base, gave a false reason for being there, and drove into the base despite being told not to.

NEW: 6+ months ago, I filed a FOIA request w/ CBP seeking the nationalities of people on the terror watchlist arrested by Border Patrol in recent years. CBP now says they will not turn over that data, citing privacy & law enforcement sensitivity exemptions, telling me:

“The… pic.twitter.com/iMBbiTnmn1

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 16, 2024

“Multiple sources report one of the individuals inside the truck is a Jordanian foreign national who recently crossed the southern border into the U.S., and that one of the occupants is on the U.S. terrorist watch list. Quantico did not confirm this information,” reported Potomac Local, which broke the story.

Base spokesman Capt. Michael Curtis acknowledged the incident to the outlet, saying they “ignor[ed] the direct instructions of the officers” and “attempted to access” the base and that they were turned over to ICE, implying that both were illegal immigrants.

But Curtis and ICE both refused to address the man’s status on the terrorist watch list.

Melugin this week obtained other immigration data through a FOIA request that showed that in fiscal 2023, DHS recorded 670,000 illegal immigrant “gotaways,” nearly double the figure of 2021. The total for 2021-23, 1.6 million, was more than the entire decade preceding it.

A Daily Wire analysis of immigration data showed last month that in contrast with prior presidents from both parties, Joe Biden has largely ceased prosecuting illegal immigration as a crime, instead opting for civil deportation proceedings. Even those who repeatedly re-enter the country after being deported are unlikely to face the prospect of jail time.

As it has concealed potential terrorist activity from foreign nationals, Biden’s top law enforcement officers have alleged that racist white Americans are the top terrorism threat to the country, in one case painting a Hispanic Satanist who called a judge a “cracker” as a member of such a group.

In another case of stringent law enforcement against conservative Americans and lax enforcement against major criminals, the FBI knowingly let a child molester go free to pursue someone who attended the January 6 rally instead.

Related: Feds Charge Black Marine For Plotting To Kill ‘Privileged’ White People

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