Leer en Español
BORDER Patrol has apprehended 78 individuals listed in the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) so far in 2022, triple the previous five fiscal years combined, amid a historic increase in immigrants crossing the southern border illegally.
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, agents apprehended a dozen suspected terrorists attempting to cross points of entry in August alone.
BREAKING: CBP reports there were 12 arrests of individuals on the FBI’s terror watchlist (TSDB) at the border in August, bringing the total for FY’22 to 78 so far. That is triple the previous 5 years combined. (26)
FY17 : 2
FY18: 6
FY19: 0
FY20: 3
FY21 15
FY22: 78@FoxNews— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 20, 2022
The TSDB contains information on individuals involved in terrorist activities or who are “reasonable suspicion” of terrorism. It is common for the Border Patrol to apprehend potential terrorists, but the number recorded in the current fiscal year is already alarming.
A Fox News report indicated that only two terror suspects were captured in 2017, six in 2018, none in 2019, three in 2020 and 15 in 2021. The number captured so far in 2022 is three times the sum of the previous five years.
This coincides with an unprecedented number of illegal migrants crossing the border in 2022, which surpassed two million at the end of August, not taking into account the more than 500,000 who slipped past Border Patrol agents.
CBP numbers indicate that 203,598 migrant encounters were recorded at the southern border in August. Of that total, 157,921 were migrants attempting to cross for the first time, the rest had previous encounters with border authorities. Of those, 64% were from the regimes of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela.
“Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border,” the CBP commissioner said in a statement quoted by Fox News.
Illegal Immigration Scandal and Southern Border Abandoned
The border crisis continues to be evaded, at least publicly, by the Democratic administration. While President Biden has been moving thousands of migrants on secret flights and relocating them around the country, Vice President Kamala Harris claims the southern border is “secure.”
For their part, Republican governors of the most affected border states, Texas and Arizona, have begun sending busloads of illegal immigrants to Democratic cities that have declared themselves “sanctuaries,” such as Washington DC and New York, in an effort to get the attention of federal authorities who refuse to assist the border crisis.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently sent a couple of flights with about 50 illegal immigrants to the Democratic sanctuary of Martha’s Vineyard, where multiple woke celebrities enjoy the summer at their luxury estates.
But the response from Democrats has been mixed. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency, attacked Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and said her self-proclaimed “sanctuary city” is not a border city.
New York Mayor Eric Adams also rebuked Abbott and said that relocating illegal immigrants to his sanctuary cities was “horriffic” and “unimaginable.”
Martha’s Vineyard residents also complained, saying the reception of 50 illegal immigrants sent by DeSantis was a “challenge” for the island and it didn’t even take 24 hours to relocate them.
Republicans, united in demanding a secure border, have pointed to the “hypocrisy” of the Democratic left and the Biden administration’s open borders policy.
Tomás Lugo, journalist and writer. Born in Venezuela and graduated in Social Communication. Has written for international media outlets. Currently living in Colombia // Tomás Lugo, periodista y articulista. Nacido en Venezuela y graduado en Comunicación Social. Ha escrito para medios internacionales. Actualmente reside en Colombia.