The number of illegal migrants who are on terror watch lists rose by a frightening 400 percent in 2022 as an expert warns groups may already be in the throngs of plotting a major terror attack on US soil.
According to data from US Customs and Border Protection, there have been as many as 78 encounters with migrants who were on the US terrorist list this year, compared to 15 in 2021.
The FBI defines a terrorist as an individual or group who commits violent acts on behalf of a religious or political ideology. Groups on the official terror list include every known sect of ISIS, Hamas, the IRA, and the United Self Defense Forces of Columbia.
As an unprecedented number of illegal migrants swarm over the US-Mexico border every day, the likelihood that violent criminals including terrorists are among the numbers is almost certain.
Earlier this year, two known terrorists were accidentally released into the US by officials. Todd Bensman from the Center for Immigration Studies said Biden’s open-door approach to border security has put American citizens in grave danger:
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear that the person behind the next big shooting or that the person who drove into a crowd is one of the people on this watch list,” Bensman told MailOnline.
Bensman went on to explain that terrorists are flying in from “around the world” to make use of the tumultuous situation at the border thanks to Biden’s removal of Trump-era policies which required migrants to wait in Mexico while they were processed:
“These individuals are looking at the chaos in our borders and flying over from around the world, throwing their ID’s into the dirt and trying to come in under a made-up name seeking asylum”.
Because of the sheer number of people crossing the border, with figures skyrocketing past 2 million encounters in the past year, Border Patrol agents are physically unable to scan fingerprints to find out the identity of migrants as they are processed.
For this reason, Bensman said terrorists from groups like ISIS are able to slip through the net into the United States, where they are free to plot acts of terror:
“The programs we’ve had for years to catch these individuals has been derailed,” said Bensman.
“The risk right now is elevated far beyond anything we’ve ever seen.”
Earlier this year, Lebanese-born Venezuelan migrant Issam Bazzi who is on the terrorist list was accidentally released into the US. According to the New York Times, Bazzi is still in the US and is now living in Michigan.
In April this year, another migrant, Shihab Ahmed Shihab, 52, was caught plotting to assassinate former president, George W. Bush, and was attempting to smuggle more extremists across the border to help him carry out the murder.
Bensman said that Biden must put the security of the nation before pandering to the demands of virtue signallers by re-establishing Trump’s policy of making the migrants wait at the border to be processed:
“We can’t let them in,” he warned. “The program has to stop now.
“It’s that simple. We haven’t had any attack so far thanks to the diligence of our agents at the border, but that’s collapsing.”
