16 terrorists on FBI watchlist crossed US border in February: report

Data from Customs and Border Protection has revealed that sixteen people on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's terror watch list were apprehended by border patrol agents in February as they attempted to illegally cross into the United States from Mexico.

Over the past few years, there has been a marked increase in the number of encounters between agents and those on the terror watch list at both United States' northern and southern borders.



According to the New York Post, the sixteen encounters recorded in February bring the total number of people on the terror watch list apprehended in Fiscal Year 2023 to sixty-nine. 

In FY22 there were ninety-eight such encounters at the southern border, putting FY23 well on pace to eclipse the previous year's totals, which were already way above those recorded between 2017 and 2020, and 2021, at just eight, and fifteen, respectively.

FY23 is also expected to beat FY22 when it comes to encounters with people in the Terrorist Screening Database. At ports of entry on both the northern and southern borders, 214 people have been stopped by CBP agents in FY23 to date. Last year, the total was 380. In FY21, there were only 157 such encounters, 

The Biden administration has repeatedly been pressed on the threat of terrorists taking advantage of the US' border crisis to enter the country illegally.

"How concerned is President Biden about terrorists possibly trying to take advantage of gaps in the border to get in and kill Americans?" FOX News' Peter Doocy asked former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in 2021 following news that two Yemeni terrorists had been apprehended.

Psaki replied by suggesting that such events were "very uncommon," adding that, "DHS works, not just at the border, but also with international partners to share intelligence and other information including to prevent individuals on certain watch-lists from entering the United States."