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Nearly 100 Illegal Immigrants on Terror Watch List Were Released into US Under Biden, Harris's Watch

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August 5, 2024

The Department of Homeland Security released nearly 100 illegal immigrants on the terrorist watch list into the United States under the Biden-Harris administration, according to a congressional report released Monday.

"Under the Biden-Harris administration … DHS has released into American communities at least 99 [illegal aliens on the terrorist watch list], with at least 34 others in DHS custody but not yet removed from the United States," the House Judiciary Committee wrote in its Monday report, noting that Border Patrol encountered more than 250 such immigrants at the southern border between fiscal years 2021 and 2023.

The report came just days after the House passed a resolution—in a 220-196 vote with six Democrats in favor—condemning Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, for her failure as "border czar" to secure the U.S. southern border. More than 7.8 million migrants have crossed the border illegally under the Biden-Harris administration.

Democratic officials and pundits have recently tried to downplay Harris’s role in the border crisis, even though there had been a consensus in Democratic circles that Harris was in charge of the border after Biden appointed her in March 2021 to investigate the "root causes" of illegal immigration.

The Monday report found that Border Patrol agents encountered migrants on the watch list from countries with an active terror presence, including Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, and Tajikistan, as well as thousands of people from nations that could pose national security risks—including 33,347 Chinese, 541 Iranians, 520 Syrians, 3,104 Uzbeks, and 2,134 Afghans.

The number of encounters with individuals on the watch list has increased by over 3,000 percent, the congressional committee reported, noting that it "does not include the untold numbers of potential terrorists that evaded Border Patrol to enter the United States as part of nearly 2 million ‘gotaways’ since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration."

DHS officials said last month that an ISIS-affiliated network smuggled into the United States more than 400 "subjects of concern" from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Federal authorities also recently busted eight Tajikistan nationals with ties to ISIS who had illegally crossed the southern border.

"Although American communities already feel the disastrous effects of the Biden-Harris Administration’s immigration policies, the worst could still be yet to come," the report reads.