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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, will introduce a bill within the House of Representatives this week that might require federal immigration authorities to screen all migrants who come throughout the U.S. border against the FBI’s terror watch list.
The measure, the Identifying Potential Terrorist on the Border Act of 2024, would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to screen every migrant that crosses the U.S. border, whether or not legally or illegally, against the fear watch list and detain these migrants till a cross-reference search of every one has been accomplished.
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall take into and maintain custody over an alien until the Commissioner cross references the name of such alien with the terrorist screening database and a result for such cross reference is received by the Commissioner,” the measure states.
Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, will introduce a bill this week that might require federal immigration authorities to screen all migrants who come throughout the U.S. border against the FBI’s terror watch list. (Getty Images)
“We are a land of laws, and it is past time this administration acts like it,” Williams mentioned in a press release to Fox News Digital. “Joe Biden is encouraging a deadly invasion of fighting-age men on American soil, and each day this Democrat-created influx of illegal aliens allows bad actors to slip past Border Patrol undetected. Under current law, CBP is not required to screen migrants against the terrorist watchlist database, and as we have seen too often, dangerous criminals are released into our nation who go on to harm American citizens and communities.
BORDER PATROL STOPS RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON TERROR WATCH LIST AT SOUTHERN BORDER
“My bill requires CBP to screen and detain all people trying to cross the border till a match is returned on that migrant. Now greater than ever, we should concentrate on who’s in our nation as Republicans combat to restore legislation and order and finish Biden’s lethal open border insurance policies which are destroying America,” Williams added.
Williams’ measure comes after Patrick Lechleitner, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), revealed earlier this year that a terrorist was allowed to roam freely in the U.S. for nearly a year after crossing into the country illegally at the border.
At a February briefing, Lechleitner said the terrorist was arrested within 48 hours, only after ICE “turned conscious.”
Immigrants are photographed at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center after they crossed the U.S.-Mexico border Dec. 7, 2023, in Lukeville, Ariz. (John Moore/Getty Images)
The admission from Lechleitner followed a report by The Daily Caller that federal authorities caught a terrorist illegally crossing into the U.S. via the southern border in March 2023. However, the terrorist was then released into the U.S. due to a “mismatch” after his name was run through the terror watch list, The Daily Caller reported.
The unnamed terrorist was a member of al-Shabab and was captured last month in Minneapolis, according to the outlet.
“A 27-year-old Somali native entered close to San Ysidro, California, with out inspection on March 13, 2023, and was arrested that very same day by U.S. Border Patrol,” ICE spokesperson Erin Bultje told Fox News earlier this year. “On Jan. 18, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acquired info concerning the noncitizen’s menace to nationwide safety and took the noncitizen into ICE custody on Jan. 20, the place he’s presently detained in accordance with ICE coverage, topic to the continued analysis of their case.”
Earlier this month, it was revealed that an individual on the terror watch list — 40-year-old Carlos Obed Yepez-Bedoya — was apprehended after illegally crossing the Texas border in February. CBP sources told Fox News Digital that Yepez-Bedoya was a “constructive match” on the terror watchlist but did not name the terror organization.
Williams’ measure comes as illegal immigration has become a major 2024 election issue and remains a thorny issue for President Biden and his administration. Polls show that more than half of Americans think large numbers of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. represent a critical threat to the country.
Border patrol agents process migrants who entered the U.S. illegally the day before taking them to a port of entry in Jacumba, Calif., Dec. 6, 2023. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
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The southern border crisis, now into its third year, has smashed multiple records with more than 2.4 million encounters in fiscal 2023 and over 300,000 in December alone, breaking the record for monthly encounters.
There were 169 encounters of people between ports of entry at the southern border on the FBI’s terror watch list in 2023, according to CBP data.
Fox News’ Lorraine Taylor, Adam Shaw, and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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