The Department of Homeland Security is warning that an increasing amount of people on the U.S. terrorist watch list are being encountered at the border.
In its 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment report released this week, the agency said that "[a]lthough encounters with migrants have declined from record highs in December, migrants seeking entry to the United States are still arriving at a rate that is on pace to nearly match 2022 total encounters."
"As part of this increase, we have encountered growing numbers of individuals in the Terrorist Screening Data Set (TSDS), also known as the ‘watchlist,’" the report said.
As of July, around 160 non-U.S. persons on that watchlist have "attempted to enter the United States via the southern border this year, most of whom were encountered attempting to illegally enter between ports of entry," according to the DHS.
