WASHINGTON, D.C. – Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Chairman Congressman Clay Higgins (R-LA), House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, MD (R-TN), and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) sent a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting information on the recently reported arrests of Afghan and Pakistani nationals on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on May 10 and May 12, 2023.
“According to multiple sources from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Afghan national was apprehended near San Diego, California, along with a group of aliens who had crossed the border illegally. Reports indicate that a fingerprint scan revealed he was a match to someone on the Terrorist Screening Database, triggering an investigation by the FBI. Additionally, a Pakistani national on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist was arrested by Border Patrol agents in southeastern Arizona, a day after the expiration of Title 42, according to reports,”wrote the lawmakers.
“These reported arrests raise serious questions about the security of our Southwest border and the potential for terrorists to take advantage of the glaring vulnerabilities due to the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies,” states the letter. “To assist the Committee’s continued oversight of the threats posed by illegal border crossers who are in the Terrorist Screening Database as well as the Committee’s examination of DHS’s role and processes regarding the administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, we ask that you provide responses to the following questions regarding the Afghan national and the Pakistani national on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist, no later than June 6, 2023.”
Read the full letter here.
Read more in The Washington Free Beacon here.
