DHS Secretary de-emphasize terror suspects sneaking across US-Mexico border

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rejected the significance of suspected terrorists sneaking into the country via the southern border on Wednesday. He said it was “not a new phenomenon.”

On Tuesday, US Customs and Border Protection confirmed that four people, three from Yemen and one from Serbia on the FBI’s terrorist watch list have been detained since October at the US-Mexico border.

“If I may, a known or suspected terrorist — KST is the acronym that we use — individuals who match that profile have tried to cross the border, the land border, have tried to travel by air into the United States not only this year but last year, the year prior, so on and so forth,” Mayorkas said at a hearing.

He said that it is because of the multi-layered security apparatus, the architecture built since the commencement of the Department of Homeland Security, that helps them identify and arrest the terrorist and ensure that they don’t remain in the U.S.

Most suspected terrorists are detected at international airports who are stopped by US border security officials, rather than after illegally crossing the border.

There were 3,755 known or suspected terrorists stopped at the US border or airports in fiscal 2017 as per a fact sheet from the Department of Homeland Security. In fiscal 2018, six terror suspects from Yemen and Bangladesh were reportedly detained at the southern border.

The suspected terrorists do not have a right to illegally cross the border to claim refuge, confirmed Mayorkas in reply to a question from Bishop.

Mayorkas said that “he does not ” believe Biden’s immigration policies triggered a migrant surge even though a rise in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border has happened following President Biden’s inauguration.

In February, about 30 percent of the people crossing the border were under 18. About 29,792  children were detained without their parents which is five times more than in January of whom 2,942 were under age 12, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

A 28% increase happened in February after more than 100,000 people were apprehended along the Mexican border.

The Biden administration has provided shelter to the unaccompanied children in crowded detention camps pending possible placement with family or sponsors. Single adults and families are deported to Mexico under a Trump-era COVID-19 rule if Mexican officials have room to house them, federal officials say.

Mayorkas again did not mention migrant surge as a crisis even after acknowledging that figures are on pace to be the highest in 20 years.

“Congressman, we have a very serious challenge and I don’t think the difficulty of that challenge could be overstated. We also have a plan to address it,” he said in response to whether there was a crisis.