United States: In a startling preliminary report, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement reveals the extent to which President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have permitted the release of immigrants on the government’s “terrorist watchlist” into the United States.
Since the inception of their administration in early 2021, DHS has orchestrated a broad catch-and-release framework, funneling thousands of migrants into American communities each day as they await deportation proceedings, according to reports.
The subcommittee’s interim report delineates how DHS facilitated the entry of immigrants listed on the federal government’s terrorist watchlist—a repository cataloging foreign nationals linked directly or indirectly to terrorism—into the United States during the fiscal years 2021 to 2023.
As outlined in the report:
Under the Biden-Harris administration, of the over 250 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist encountered by Border Patrol at the southwest border between fiscal years 2021 and 2023, DHS has released at least 99 into American communities, with another 34 in DHS custody yet to be deported, as per certain reports.
Further, the report details:
From fiscal years 2021 to 2023, Border Patrol at the southwest border encountered aliens on the terrorist watchlist from 36 countries, including nations with active terrorist activity such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
So far, in fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol has apprehended tens of thousands of illegal aliens nationwide from countries that may pose national security threats, including 2,134 Afghan nationals, 33,347 Chinese nationals, 541 Iranian nationals, 520 Syrian nationals, and 3,104 Uzbek nationals.
Reportedly, in June, speculation arose that eight Tajikistani migrants linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) were apprehended by federal agents after entering from the south.
The subcommittee’s interim report asserts that three of these ISIS-affiliated migrants were allowed into the US interior after scheduling release appointments at the southern border via the Biden-Harris administration’s “CBP One” app.
Of the ISIS-linked migrants, four had already crossed the border, with one reaching a Port of Entry before being admitted into the US interior.
The report declared, “The open-border policies of President Joe Biden and border czar Vice President Kamala Harris have enabled millions of illegal aliens to enter the United States, including terrorist organizations and other malevolent actors aiming to harm Americans.”
From fiscal years 2021 through 2023, the report claims that at least 27 migrants on the terrorism watchlist were granted release from DHS detention; federal immigration judges played a role in this.
“Furthermore, immigration judges have granted asylum to at least four watchlisted aliens, with at least two additional known or suspected terrorists having their cases dismissed by an immigration judge,” the report noted.
The article also recounts the apprehension of 48-year-old Afghan national Mohammad Kharwin, a member of the terrorist group Hezb-e-Islami, by federal authorities in April following two releases into the US interior.
In March 2023, Kharwin initially crossed the southern border. DHS permitted his entry into the American interior that same month. He was detained and released on bail in March 2024, as per reports.
Kharwin was not rearrested until reports of his case emerged the following month.
The report asserts, “In three-and-a-half years, the Biden-Harris administration has released more than 5.4 million illegal aliens into the United States, with an additional at least 1.9 million known ‘getaways’ evading capture.”
“Among these over 7.3 million illegal aliens are 375 individuals on the US government’s terrorist watchlist who have been apprehended by Border Patrol under President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s tenure,” the report continued. “This marks a more than 3,000 percent increase in watchlisted alien encounters compared to the entire four-year span of the Trump administration.”
