Despite a major migrant rush reaching the border, Border Patrol arrests of migrants on the terror watch list at the southern border in Fiscal Year 2022 have already surpassed previous years.
Between ports of entry on the southern border, Border Patrol made 50 arrests of migrants on the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) in Fiscal Year 2022.
That’s up from three in FY20 and zero in FY19, and up from 15 in FY21. There were six in FY18 and two in FY17, therefore this year’s totals are already greater than the prior five years combined.
After promising Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee who had bombarded the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with requests that the number of those encountered who were recorded on the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) be given to Congress and made public, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began posting the numbers online last month.
CBP had previously ceased publicly providing updates on TSDB interactions at the border shortly after President Biden entered office, citing the material as law enforcement sensitive, causing legislators to get frustrated.
The number of people apprehended by Border Patrol on the southern border is just a fraction of the overall number of border interactions.
CBP’s Office of Field Operations has conducted 192 interactions at ports of entry along the northern and southern borders, 142 at the northern border and 50 at the southern border. In comparison, there were 157 in FY21, 196 in FY20, 538 in FY19, 351 in FY18, and 333 in FY17.
CBP announced this week that there were 239,416 migrant interactions in May, surpassing the 180,597 encountered in May 2021 and the 23,237 encountered in May 2020. It’s also higher than the 235,478 people that were contacted in April 2022, which was a new high.
Since the fiscal year began in October, there have been 440,000 known getaways, according to a high-ranking CBP source, with over 50,000 in May alone. Since October 2020, more than 800,000 illegal immigrants have sneaked through agents, more than the whole population of Seattle.
At the end of May, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas advised migrants not to attempt the trek, although admitting that border officers were dealing with record numbers.
