CPB: 50 on terror watch list apprehended attempting to enter US so far in fiscal year

As criticism of President Joe Biden's handling of the southern border crisis continues to grow, it was on Friday that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) indicated that 50 individuals on the terror watch list have been apprehended attempting to cross into the country in the current fiscal year thus far, as the Post Millennial reports.

The CBP website noted that 49 people who are the subject of entries in the Terrorist Screening Dataset (to which many refer as the terror watch list) were caught as they made their way across the southern border, with one additional person attempting to breach the northern border.

Staggering numbers

As the outlet notes, the alarming figures for the initial part of fiscal year 2024 come in the wake of a record tally of watch list subjects having tried to illegally enter the U.S. in 2023.

The total of 172 such individuals attempting to cross in FY 2023 represented nearly twice as many who did the same in 2022.

The years saw terror watchlist apprehensions in the single digits in records dating back to 2017.

Alarming situation

It was last fall, when border crossing numbers reached their all-time high, that Donald Trump Jr. sounded the alarm about the rising number of terror watch list subjects among those attempting to gain entry.

Writing on X at the time, Trump Jr noted the number of suspected terrorists apprehended and rhetorically asked, “these were caught imagine how many got through?”

Echoing the sentiments of many at the time – and perhaps even more now – Trump said, “This is not an accident or a coincidence, this is deliberate by Democrats and it will destroy our country.”

Recent events add to concern

A number of recent developments both here and abroad have led to heighten attention to the border crisis, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) referencing the October Hamas attacks on Israel as a possible driver of new dangers, as the Post Millennial further reported.

“I write with alarm regarding the uptick in potential terrorist-linked illegal aliens encountered at the southern border. This development follows the barbaric attack perpetrated by Hamas terrorists on innocent American and Israeli civilians,” Hawley said.

Hawley called upon Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to “address this issue immediately to ensure the safety of American citizens, especially Jewish Americans, who are facing increased threats to their physical safety following the Hamas attack.”

However, in light of the federal government's ongoing standoff with Texas officials who are taking steps to stem the tide of illegal arrivals and its apparent unwillingness to do its constitutional duty to stop the growing invasion, such action seems unlikely to materialize anytime soon.