23 Migrants on Terrorist Watch List Arrested -- 'What Happened to Them?' Asks Fmr. Border Chief

Border Patrol agents arrested 23 migrants who illegally crossed from Mexico in 2021 and subsequently were identified as being on the Terrorist Watch List. The former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection wonders what happened to those 23 migrants.

Fox News reports from a Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request that Border Patrol agents apprehended 23 migrants whose names matched the list. The apprehensions occurred between January 20 and December 27, 2021.

Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner and Chief of the Border Patrol, Mark Morgan, told Breitbart News that the report from Fox News raises serious questions.

“The real question we need to be asking this administration is, what did you do with the 23 people from the Terrorism Screening Database you took custody of?” Morgan said during an interview. “Their arrest would have triggered further investigation by the FBI and other law enforcement entities.”

“Did you release some or all? he asked. “Did you remove some or all?”

Morgan said the appearance of these migrants on the TSDB means they should have been subjected to additional screening. Their appearance on the list means officials believe they have some connection to terrorism.

“That’s different from Known and Suspected Terrorists or KSTs, those look-outs have more definitive connections, he explained. KSTs are people who are “known or suspected terrorists” who would spend more money to smugglers to avoid apprehension.

Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly two million migrants during the first year of this administration, Breitbart reported. In addition, another approximately 500,000 migrants got away without being apprehended during that first year — 700,000 in the first 14 months, Morgan added.

“Among the more than 700,000 got-a-ways in the first 14 months of this administration, how many KSTs or other high-value targets managed to get by us?” the former commissioner asked. “This goes to the very heart of the false narrative of this administration. That you can be for border security and illegal immigration at the same time.”

Morgan said some sector chiefs attempted to highlight these arrests but the Biden administration quickly removed the information from public view.”

“As Commissioner, I supported releasing this data, all day, every day. What is this administration actually trying to hide?” he concluded.

Fox News reported the 23 migrants on the TSDB list, four entered in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, four in the Del Rio Sector, three in the El Paso Sector, two in the Tucson Sector, two in the Yuma Sector, four in the El Centro Sector, and four in the San Diego Sector.

Republican members of Congress also raised questions about these arrests.

“The American people deserve to know whether President Biden’s weak border policies are allowing terrorists to enter our homeland,” Representatives James Comer and John Katko — ranking members of the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees — wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month, Fox News stated. The representatives also asked for similar migrant apprehensions from previous years who appeared on the TSDB list.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.