Border Patrol reported a spike in illegal aliens on the terror watch list attempting to cross the southern border into the United States in fiscal year 2023.
Data from United States Customs and Border Protection reveals that Border Patrol has encountered 143 illegal aliens on the terror watch list in fiscal year 2023. The figure marks a significant jump from the 98 encounters that Border Patrol had in fiscal year 2022.
But both 2022 and 2023 have marked dramatic increases from previous years, with only six encounters with those on the terror watchlist being reported by Border Patrol in fiscal year 2021 and three being encountered in fiscal years 2019 and 2020.
One illegal alien on the terror watch list was recently released into the interior of the U.S. It took two weeks to find and arrest the illegal immigrant, who the Tampa Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office noted could “pose a national security risk.”
Meanwhile, a recent report from Border Patrol revealed that there’s been a 1,000% increase in illegal immigration into the United States from various different foreign countries, including China, Afghanistan, Algeria, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and others.
The sharp increase comes as illegal immigration has accelerated more broadly under the Biden administration, with an estimated 1.5 million gotaways reported since Biden took office in 2021. The figure dwarfs the total 415,000 estimated gotaways under the Trump administration in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
American citizens living on the Texas-Mexico border told The Daily Wire that illegal immigrants have crossed their properties at alarming rates since the Biden administration, with some even surrounding the homes of ranchers or trying to lure young girls out of their home late at night.
Estimates have found that illegal immigration costs American taxpayers approximately $151 billion every year, with significant strain being placed on the healthcare system, especially in Texas, Florida, and Arizona.
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Major cities have struggled to respond to the immigration crisis, with Chicago approving a $51 million initiative to provide housing for foreign nationals and New York City using places of worship for housing.
A CBS News poll from late May found that 63% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the border, while only 37% said that they approve.