Border patrol reports it arrested 16 people on terrorist watch list at southern border in month of February

United States Customs and Border Patrol data released this week revealed that border patrol agents arrested 16 individuals who were on a terror watch list in the month of February alone, bringing the annual total this fiscal year so far to almost 70 and on pace to crush 2022 numbers.

The CBP data showed US agents have arrested 69 such individuals at the southern border and one at the northern border since October 1, 2022, the beginning of the current fiscal year. The numbers for this year are on pace to outpace last fiscal year, which ended with a total of 98 people on terror watch lists apprehended at the border.

In spite of the number of arrests of dangerous individuals, CBP reports a decrease in the number of migrant encounters at the southern border since January. “The new border enforcement measures kept February’s overall encounter numbers nearly even with January,” said acting CBP commissioner Troy Miller in the release. “The number of unique individuals encountered in February 2023 was 94,124 compared to 107,959 in January 2023,” reads the CBP data, “a 13% decrease in the number of unique individuals encountered the prior month.”

February was the second month running in 2023 that saw decreased encounters with potentially terroristic individuals at US borders, but overall numbers have stayed remarkably high compared to recent years. Border patrol authorities  say they are encouraged, however, by the “new functionality in the CBP One mobile application, which has provided migrants the ability to safely and easily schedule an appointment at a Port of Entry to request a humanitarian exception to the Title 42 public health order.” CBP reports the app has led to a decrease in smuggling and trafficking since its implementation.