Lawmakers claim Biden’s immigration policies create opportunities for terrorists to exploit border vulnerabilities.

The Biden Administration’s Lax Border Policies Enable Terrorists to Take Advantage of Glaring Vulnerabilities

Lawmakers say that the Biden administration’s open-border policies are enabling terrorists to take advantage of the glaring vulnerabilities at the southern border.

Rep. Mark Green (R., Tenn.), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, launched an investigation on Tuesday into the recent capture along the border of two individuals on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist. Green and two of his committee colleagues say the arrests of these would-be terrorists “raise serious questions about the security of our Southwest border and the potential for terrorists to take advantage of the glaring vulnerabilities due to the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies.”

Border Agents Nabbed Two Individuals on the Terrorist Watchlist

Border agents recently nabbed an Afghan national and a Pakistani national who were trying to cross the border alongside a record wave of migrants. The congressional probe comes just a week after the expiration of Title 42, a public health order that restricted immigration.

Green says the botched 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan has decimated the United States’ intelligence networks, enabling those with terrorist ties to more easily cross into America hidden among illegal aliens.

Lawmakers Want the FBI and Homeland Security to Fully Brief Members

Green and his colleagues—Reps. August Pfluger (R., Texas) and Clay Higgens (R., La.)—want the FBI and Homeland Security to fully brief members about the two foreign nationals who were arrested last week. They also want documents that could shed new light on “what terrorist groups are associated with the individuals and, [if there] is any information regarding whether the individuals were directed by a terrorist group to travel to the United States.”

Both agencies must also “provide any information about the means, financial support, and sponsorship of the travel of the apprehended individuals, both to and across the southwest border,” according to the letter.

Terrorist Apprehension Along the Southern Border is on the Rise

Terrorist apprehension along the southern border began to rise sharply last year, with Customs and Border Patrol detaining 38 individuals on the terror watchlist in just the first three months of fiscal year 2022—a figure that eclipses the totals for the past five years combined.

“An unprecedented number of people on the terrorist watchlists are attempting to cross the border, and all semblance of law and order has been lost,” the House Homeland Security Committee reported in January.

Former counterterrorism officials testified before Green’s committee last month that the influx of individuals from the terror watchlist is a direct byproduct of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, which has transformed the war-torn country into “a terrorist safe haven.”

“The security vacuum in the region could result in further terrorist encounters at the Southwest border,” according to Green and his colleagues.

Around 100 individuals on the terror watchlist are expected to be apprehended this year, though that number could grow even larger as the chaos at the southern border spirals further out of control.

The American people are left to fear how many terrorists have been able to slip into the U.S. undetected and what their intentions may be.