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illegal immigration

Terrorist watch list apprehensions at northern border continue to break records

Published

1 year ago

7 minute read

In July, Border Patrol agents apprehended 871 people trying to enter the U.S. illegally in the Swanton Sector at the northern border with Canada.

U.S. Border Patrol

From The Centre Square

By Bethany Blankley

The number of known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) apprehended at the northern border in the first six months of fiscal 2024 continue to outpace those apprehended at the southwest border.

There have been 143 KSTs apprehended at the northern border through the first six months of this fiscal year compared to 92 at the southwest border, according to the most recent CBP data.

Those apprehended are known to law enforcement and in the national Terrorist Screening Dataset, a federal database that contains sensitive information on terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated terrorist watchlist “to house information on known or suspected terrorists but evolved over the last decade to include additional individuals who represent a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watchlisted individuals,” CBP explains.

This is after the greatest number of foreign nationals were apprehended illegally entering through the northern border than at any time in U.S. history during the same time period, The Center Square reported.

The greatest number of KSTs to ever be apprehended in U.S. history was at the northern border in fiscal 2023 of 484. The next greatest number to be apprehended in U.S. history was 313 at the northern border in fiscal 2022, according to CBP data.

Overall, the greatest combined number of KSTs apprehended at both the northern and southerns borders was in fiscal 2023 of 736, The Center Square reported. The greatest number of KSTs have historically been apprehended at the northern border, outpacing those apprehended at the southwest border for years, The Center Square first reported.

“The alarming conclusion from these numbers is every day we have individuals that are on the FBI terrorist watch list that could have an intention to harm our country and are entering every single day,” former Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan told The Center Square. “It’s not if or when the threat tries to come to our country. We already know that’s happening already. The threat is already here,” he said, referring to the at least two million gotaways, those who illegally entered the country and evaded capture.

While total illegal entries at the northern border are “minuscule” compared to the southwest border, “the threat is not,” he said. “While there are shortages of resources across the board, the northern border doesn’t have the infrastructure, technology, personnel that the southwest border has. The northern border represents a threat.”

In his 30-plus-year law enforcement career, Morgan also served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He also served for 20 years with the FBI in multiple capacities, targeting organized crime, gangs, and counterterrorism operations, among others.

Morgan was among a group of retired FBI counterintelligence officials to warn Congress in January that the presidents’ border policies had facilitated a “soft invasion” into the U.S. of military-age men coming from terror-linked regions, China and Russia.

“It would be difficult to overstate the danger represented by the presence inside our borders of what is comparatively a multi-division army of young single adult males from hostile nations and regions whose background, intent, or allegiance is completely unknown,” they warned. “They include individuals encountered by border officials and then possibly released into the country, along with the shockingly high estimate of ‘gotaways,’ meaning those who have entered and evaded apprehension.”

Of the more than 11 million foreign nationals who have illegally entered the U.S. since January 2021, the majority are single military age men, The Center Square has reported.

Every year the numbers break previous records; this fiscal year is no different. More than 1.7 million foreign nationals illegally entered the U.S. in the first six months of fiscal 2024, the greatest number for this time period in U.S. history, The Center Square reported.

Among them are individuals with ties to the terrorist group ISIS, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned earlier this year, after making repeated remarks about heightened terrorist threats since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

House Republicans have demanded answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on how many KSTs have been released into the country.

U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, introduced a bill to require federal agents to screen everyone who enters the country illegally against the terrorist watch list.

Morgan praised the work of CBP and Border Patrol agents apprehending KSTs but also raised concerns about those who weren’t being caught due to the sheer volume coming in and the fact that agents have been pulled away from their national security mandate.

“Every single day we have individuals on FBI terrorist watch list who are trying to come into the country,” Morgan told The Center Square. “If you think we are catching everybody, you live in a dream world. If you think we are able to identify everyone on the watch list as well, that’s not happening either.

“How many on the watchlist that we’ve apprehended who illegally came into the U.S. were released? How many have claimed asylum and we’ve let them in?

“Countless national security threats have gotten by us, and they are in the United States. We know nothing about them, where they are at, or what they are planning to do.”

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illegal immigration

LA protests continue as judge pulls back CA National Guard ahead of ‘No Kings Day’

Published on June 12, 2025

By

From The Center Square

By

Protests in Los Angeles continued into Thursday night as tensions died down across the West Coast ahead of thousands of anti-Trump demonstrations planned for Saturday — the “No Kings Day” event is set to take place coast-to-coast amid civil unrest nationwide.

The Los Angeles Police Department posted to X as the 8 p.m. curfew went into effect Thursday, reporting that protesters were throwing “bricks, concrete and commercial grade fireworks.” The agency said less lethal munitions have been authorized and “may cause pain and discomfort.

The curfew covers an area where demonstrators have spent days protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration raids and the deployment of the California National Guard. A federal judge blocked his use of the guard late Thursday, but did not rule on the Marines also deployed there.

Gov. Gavin Newsom held a press conference in San Francisco shortly after the ruling, calling out Trump for deploying the guard without his consent. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer’s preliminary injunction takes effect Friday, at which point Newsom will resume control of his National Guard.

“This is what he does. He creates a problem, and then he tries to be a hero in his own Marvel movie. He initiated those raids,” Newsom said of Trump’s actions.  “He significantly increased the scale and scope of those raids. That’s why he wants the National Guard, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of guardsmen and women, now being dispersed everywhere.”

The Trump administration filed an intent to appeal Breyer’s ruling shortly after. In the meantime, the guard will go back to its regular duties on Friday instead of guarding the federal immigration in downtown Los Angeles, only one day before thousands of protests nationwide against Trump.

According to a press release, the LAPD arrested 71 people for failure to disperse Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and intends to post another update Friday morning. Seven others were also arrested for violating the curfew, and two for assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.

Protesters filmed live streams on YouTube leading up to the curfew, reporting that some people were arrested and that they heard munitions being fired. Some demonstrators encouraged the group to disperse, adding that escalating things may be what the administration is waiting for.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation posted to social media Thursday evening that it had cut services short for the day in response to the protests. LAPD vehicles were seen lining the streets, with officers ready to issue arrests in the event of further unrest or curfew violations.

In some live streams, officers were seen issuing arrests just 30 minutes after the 8 p.m. curfew, and in some instances, towing away vehicles. Another protest in Salt Lake City, Utah, kicked off at 6 p.m. on Thursday after the Party for Socialism & Liberation called for demonstrations there.

The Salt Lake Police Department told KSL News Radio that the demonstration of roughly 600 people was mostly peaceful, aside from a damaged Tesla. Officers broke up some fights and remained on scene as it died down around 8:30 p.m., Brian Will with KUTV 2 News reported.

This is a developing story.

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Business

Trump: ‘Changes are coming’ to aggressive immigration policy after business complaints

Published on June 12, 2025

By

From The Center Square

By

“So we’re going to have an order on that pretty soon – we can’t do that to our farmers and leisure too, hotels, we’re going to have to use a lot of common sense on that.”

President Donald Trump said Thursday that changes are coming to his aggressive immigration policies after complaints from farmers and business owners.

“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” Trump wrote in a social media post Thursday morning. “In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

Later Thursday, Trump made it clear that businesses need workers.

“Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers – they’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great. And we’re going to have to do something about that,” the president said.

He added: “We can’t take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don’t have, maybe, what they’re supposed to have.”

Just how Trump may change his approach to immigration enforcement remains unclear, but he said he wants to help farmers and business owners.

“You go into a farm and you look and people, they’ve been there for 20 or 25 years and they work great and the owner of the farm loves them and you’re supposed to throw them out. You know what happens? They end up hiring the criminals that have come in, the murderers from prisons and everything else,” Trump said.

Trump said changes would be coming soon, but gave little detail on how policies could change.

“So we’re going to have an order on that pretty soon – we can’t do that to our farmers and leisure too, hotels, we’re going to have to use a lot of common sense on that.”

In a later post on Truth Social, Trump said illegal immigration had destroyed American institutions.

“Biden let 21 Million Unvetted, Illegal Aliens flood into the Country from some of the most dangerous and dysfunctional Nations on Earth — Many of them Rapists, Murderers, and Terrorists. This tsunami of Illegals has destroyed Americans’ Public Schools, Hospitals, Parks, Community Resources, and Living Conditions,” the president wrote. “They have stolen American Jobs, consumed BILLIONS OF DOLLARS in Free Welfare, and turned once idyllic Communities, like Springfield, Ohio, into Third World Nightmares.”

He added that deportations would continue: “I campaigned on, and received a Historic Mandate for, the largest Mass Deportation Program in American History. Polling shows overwhelming Public Support for getting the Illegals out, and that is exactly what we will do. As Commander-in-Chief, I will always protect and defend the Heroes of ICE and Border Patrol, whose work has already resulted in the Most Secure Border in American History. Anyone who assaults or attacks an ICE or Border Agent will do hard time in jail. Those who are here illegally should either self deport using the CBP Home App or, ICE will find you and remove you. Saving America is not negotiable!”

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