172 individuals on terrorist watch list attempted to enter US this year — senator demands Congress receive detailed reporting

In fiscal year 2023, border agents encountered 172 individuals on the FBI's terrorist watch list attempting to enter the United States.

On Wednesday, Republican Senator Roger Marshall from Kansas introduced legislation requiring that Congress receive regular reporting about individuals on the terrorist watch list who attempt to enter the country.

The proposed bill, "Where Are the Terrorists Now Act," would obligate federal agencies, including Customs and Border Protection, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and Citizenship and Immigration Services, to provide monthly reporting documenting the number of individuals who are in the terrorist screening database and were encountered at the southern border or other ports of entry.

The reporting would also include detailed information about the individuals, including where they attempted to enter the country, why they are in the database, any ties they may have to terrorist organizations, their countries of origin, previous criminal convictions, and how they traveled to the port of entry.

Additionally, Marshall's bill aims to track what happened to those individuals after federal agents stopped them from entering the country.

The legislation would require federal agencies to inform Congress "if the individual has been detained, where they were detained, if they are still detained, how long they were detained, whether they have been de ported or transferred to another agency, and their known whereabouts if they have been released."

It asks "how the determination was made that the individual does not present a danger to the United States" if federal agents decided to release the individual.

The reporting would also detail the number of individuals on the terrorist watch list and how many have been added, rejected, or removed since the previous month's report.

A Department of Homeland Security official told the New York Post, "If an individual is determined to pose a potential threat to national security or public safety, in coordination with the Joint Terrorism Taskforce, we either deny admission, detain, remove, or refer them to other federal agencies for further vetting and prosecution as appropriate."

Marshall called the Biden administration's open border "the most immediate national security threat that our nation faces."

"There is an invasion at our southern border. Every day that the Biden administration continues their open-border agenda, Americans' national security is at risk," Senator Marshall said. "Month after month, we have seen historic numbers of migrants on the FBI's terrorist watch list infiltrating our country's border. The threat the individuals on this list pose to Americans' safety is too great for us to do nothing."

Republican Senators John Cornyn from Texas, Steve Daines from Montana, and John Kennedy from Louisiana cosponsored the proposed legislation.

Cornyn noted that it is unclear how many individuals on the terrorist watch list have successfully made it into the country undetected. He stated that the bill would allow Congress to hold the Biden administration accountable.

Kennedy stated, "The Biden administration continues to undermine our national security by ignoring the crisis at our border. More members of the FBI's terror watch list are sneaking into our country than ever before."

"If the Biden administration is going to forfeit its duty to protect American citizens, Congress needs to have transparency from the Department of Homeland Security so we can address the real terrorist threat open borders pose to American communities," he added.

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