Suspected Terrorists Massively Entering US (Worthy News Investigation)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/SAN DIEGO (Worthy News) – The United States has detained several migrants on the U.S. terror watchlist since last week when President Joe Biden began lifting border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Worthy News established.
Among those detained were reportedly five migrants arrested Friday at the Tucson Sector of the United States Border Patrol in the U.S. state of Arizona shortly after the end of the pandemic policy known as Title 42.
A single border protection source was quoted as saying by controversial news site Breitbart and other media that the migrants were “referred to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task for further investigation and identity confirmation.”
Their nationalities were not immediately released. While Worthy News was not able to verify these reports independently, several U.S. officials confirmed two other arrests of terror suspects in recent days.
U.S. Border Patrol agents in southeastern Arizona arrested a Pakistani individual mentioned in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB), officials said.
The suspect reportedly attempted to illegally enter the United States from Mexico last week, according to two federal sources.
The unnamed Pakistani crossed only hours after Title 42 ended, and on the same day, some 700 illegal immigrants were said to have been detained near Ajo, close to Mexico.
BORDER PATROL
Hours earlier, Border Patrol officials arrested an Afghan national on the terror watchlist after he crossed the U.S.—Mexico border Wednesday, said San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond.
He added that the Afghan was captured alongside a group of migrants close to the San Diego border community of Otay Mesa in the U.S. state of California.
Border Patrol agents reportedly took the migrants to a processing station, where a fingerprint scan determined the Afghan was a match on the TSDB.
The FBI was then notified, confirmed the results, and investigated. The arrest was also confirmed by Republican Darrell Issa, who represents California’s 48th U.S. Congressional District.
“I can confirm that a wanted terrorist crossed our open border in the San Diego region just days ago — even if the Biden Administration won’t,” Issa wrote on the social media platform Twitter, monitored by Worthy News.
In total, at least 80 people on the U.S. terror watchlist arrived from Mexico this fiscal year of a total of 250 captured suspects, according to figures released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency obtained by Worthy News.
However, it remained unclear how many on the terror watchlist were undetected amid concerns terror groups based in other countries may try to enter the United States illegally through the chaotic border with Mexico.
TERROR CONCERNS
Despite concerns that possible terrorists may be among the many migrants illegally entering the U.S., the Biden administration lifted Title 42 restrictions. Title 42 allowed border agents to rapidly turn back many migrants to Mexico without a chance to ask for asylum.
They were first implemented under Republican then-President Donald Trump in March 2020 at the pandemic’s beginning.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the order was needed to stem the spread of the coronavirus in crowded detention settings.
Some public health experts, Democrats, and advocates criticized its health justification, saying it was part of Trump’s goal of curbing legal and illegal immigration.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021, vowing to reverse Trump’s restrictive approach, including Title 42.
Since its inception, migrants have been expelled more than 2.7 million times under Title 42, although officials acknowledge the total includes many repeat crossers, and Mexico has generally only accepted certain nationalities.
Those who cannot be expelled to Mexico — around 2.8 million migrants in the same period — have been allowed into the United States, mainly by the Biden administration.
TITLE 8
They were allowed under a separate process called Title 8 to pursue their immigration claims in court.
But critics have called that process “catch and release” as it can take months or years, with most migrants not turning up for their eventual court date.
President Biden acknowledged that it would be “chaotic” at the border after lifting the emergency immigration restriction.
“It’s going to be chaotic for a while.”
Thousands of migrants have been sleeping rough, including on downtown sidewalks of the border city of El Paso in the U.S. state of Texas, overflowing the city’s shelters.
As the crisis unfolded, Biden spent Sunday at his beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, along with first lady Jill Biden and their daughter Ashley.
Facing questions from reporters during a stop on an afternoon bike ride about the end of Title 42 that allowed border officials to turn away millions of immigrants, he claimed its expiration had not led to an immediate surge. “Much better than you all expected,” Biden answered when asked how he thought the border looked.
He added that while the number of illegal crossings had gone down, “we have a lot more work to do. We need some more help from the Congress.”
Biden said he had no immediate plans to visit the troubled border with Mexico as doing so would “just be disruptive.”
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