Yesterday [Thursday, June 30], Rep. Mayra Flores, the newest Republican Member of Congress from the Rio Grande Valley, and I sent a letter to House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson demanding that he hold a full committee hearing on the skyrocketing border encounters of possible terrorists.
Our letter comes on the heels of recent reports that an individual on the terror watch list was released into the U.S. by DHS. Following his release, he was allowed to stay in the country for two weeks, even after it was discovered that he is a possible terrorist.
This is a pattern of unacceptable oversights and blunders on matters of national security at our southern border; sadly unsurprising given the ever-growing security risks as migrants flood our border and override our law enforcement and border patrol agents.
The number of encounters with suspected terrorists along our southern border between ports of entry has jumped drastically— from three in Fiscal Years (FY) 2019 and 2020, to SIXTEEN in FY 2021 and FIFTY in FY 2022 so far.
We recently learned that in the last month alone, USBP encounter numbers skyrocketed to 15 of these individuals.
These numbers are especially concerning when we consider ‘got away’ statistics (meaning those who have evaded border patrol and entered our country unknown). Since President Biden has been in office, there have been over 800,000 got-aways.
I am extremely concerned about what we don't know – how many possible terrorists are among these 800,000?
It is unacceptable that the committee charged with ensuring our safety is ignoring these glaring security risks. Our letter is a call to action for Congress - to wake up and stand up to President Biden's failing border policies – before it is too late.