Data from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicates that thousands of illegal immigrants heralding from the Middle East have been apprehended at the southern border in the past two years.
The news comes as terrorist attacks in Israel have killed over 1,100 people, including at least 9 Americans. Hamas launched an attack with a barrage of rockets and hundreds of terrorists who invaded several Israeli communities near their own border.
Now, data leaked to Fox News raises concerns about “special interest aliens” from the Middle East infiltrating the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines “special interest aliens” as “a non-U.S. person who … potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests” and who has been “evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism.”
The data, confirmed by Fox through multiple CBP sources, shows that “agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan in that period, as well as 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran, and 538 from Syria.”
Those numbers encompass data tracked between October of 2021 to the current month, just prior to the Hamas invasion.
NEW: Internal CBP data provided & confirmed by CBP sources reveals thousands of “special interest aliens” from mostly Middle Eastern countries have been apprehended by Border Patrol while crossing into U.S. illegally over last 2 years.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 10, 2023
Syria: 538
Yemen: 139
Iran: 659
Iraq: 123…
Illegal Immigrants Crossing The US Border From The Middle East
Keep in mind that those numbers only reference the number of illegal immigrants from the Middle East who were actually arrested by border agents.
It does not include “migrants” who entered through ports of entry, nor does it address a much bigger concern – those who managed to get through without being tracked.
More than 7.2 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Joe Biden took office, including at least 1.5 million “gotaways” who vanished into the country.
The biggest concern is where these Special Interest Aliens are now. An utter and complete failure by the Biden Administration.
— Mayra Flores (@MayraFlores_TX) October 10, 2023
Border Patrol sources told Fox News that the concern for these illegal immigrants coming from the Middle East is amplified because they “have little to no ways to vet them.”
Additionally, at least 151 individuals on the terror watchlist have been arrested at ports of entry so far this fiscal year — a massive increase from the previous administration.
And Thousands that got away and now living in a City near you.
— Ricardo (@lanerichard75) October 10, 2023
FBI Investigating Threats To The US
A threat assessment published by the DHS just last month warned that “terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.”
The FBI announced that they were taking a break from exclusively trying to track down MAGA grandmas at the Capitol riot and “closely monitoring unfolding events” involving Israel and Hamas.
JUST IN: @FBI watching for fallout from #Hamas attack on #Israel, Israeli response
— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 9, 2023
"While the FBI does not have specific and credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States stemming from the Hamas attacks in Israel, we are closely monitoring unfolding events…"
The Political Insider reported in late August that the FBI is struggling to “identify and assess” more than a dozen illegal immigrants after they crossed the southern border with the aid of a smuggler with ties to the terrorist group ISIS.
That news trounced Democrat talking points claiming that illegal immigrants being identified at the border on the terror watchlist as evidence that the Biden administration is successfully flagging such threats.
We’re two weeks away from the anniversary of 9/11 & today we learned ISIS-tied smugglers are helping migrants cross our southern border.
— Office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (@RepMalliotakis) August 29, 2023
With 1.7 million gotaways & no vetting at shelters, it should alarm every American that @POTUS still refuses to protect our homeland. pic.twitter.com/OZSyXgjV07
Aside from leaving the borders wide open, President Biden and his administration removed terror groups from the foreign terrorist blacklist and unlocked billions of dollars for Iranian terrorists.
via politicalinsider