(NBC) This year U.S. border agents have encountered a “growing number of individuals” on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist trying to enter the country via the southern border, according to the Homeland Threat Assessment released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.
As of July, 160 migrants whose identities match those on the Terrorist Screening Dataset had been apprehended by Customs and Border Protection trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2023, compared to 100 in fiscal year 2022. Fiscal years end on Sept. 30.
The number of all people, including U.S. citizens, on the terrorist watchlist who had been stopped at the southern border as of July this fiscal year was 216, compared to 165 in all of fiscal year 2022. The number of border crossers on the watchlist was higher in fiscal year 2019, at 280.
