70 migrants on terror watch list apprehended this year after crossing border

Border Patrol agents along the Mexican and Canadian borders have apprehended 70 migrants who have crossed between ports of entry so far this exercise. That compares to record arrests last year of 98 migrants on the FBI’s list for all of FY22. The five-month total also tops the Trump administration’s four years combined.

A CBP Enforcement Statistics report released by US Customs and Border Protection reveals the arrest of 70 migrants on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) watch list. The five-month total included 69 people apprehended along the southwestern border with Mexico between October 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023. The remaining arrest was along the Canadian border with the United States.

“Persons on the TSDS watch list encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) after entering the country without inspection may be detained and deported, where possible in accordance with CBP policy, or surrendered to a other government agency for further detention or law enforcement action, as appropriate,” CBP officials reported. “The TSDS originated as a consolidated terrorist watch list to house information on Known or Suspected Terrorists (KST), but has evolved over the past decade to include others who pose a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of individuals on the Watch List.”

The number of apprehended migrants on the TSDS watch list has grown exponentially under the Biden administration. During the four years of the Trump administration, Border Patrol agents apprehended a total of 14 migrants who were on the TSDS list. The following year, following changes made by the Biden administration to immigration and border security policies, that number rose to 16 for a single year. This was followed by a massive jump in FY22 to 98 TSDS migrant apprehensions.

This year’s report showing the arrest of 70 TSDS-listed migrants in five months puts the administration on pace to break the record again in FY23.

CBP officers assigned to ports of entry along the Southwest and Canadian borders also set a record in FY22 with 380 migrants listed on the TSDS list attempting to enter the United States. So far this year, CBP officers have encountered 214 other migrants on the terrorist watch list at border ports of entry.

Migrants on the TSDS watch list represent only a fraction of the number of nationwide encounters with people on the known or suspected terrorist list. In September 2016, Breitbart Texas manager Brandon Darby released information from a leaked FBI database showing that 7,712 potential terrorist encounters took place in a year.