A Daily Caller News Foundation reporter described how the number of migrants with potential ties to terrorism skyrocketed during a Tuesday morning Newsmax appearance.
“Special interest migrants, as they’re called by the Biden administration, are migrants that come from areas of the world that have specific ties to terrorists or that they have travel patterns in areas that have ties to terrorism,” DCNF investigative reporter Jennie Taer told “National Report” co-host Emma Rechenberg. “And so, the concern is that there may be extra background checks that need to be done, and that’s what’s done in these cases. If there’s derogatory information found, then special interest migrants are taken into further custody, but many of them are released.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Dereliction Of Duty’: GOP Rep Demands Answers On The Massive Influx Of Migrants Flagged As Potential National Security Risks)
“There’s been a 600% increase in these, as we’ve seen record 2 million, over 2 million, migrant encounters at the southern border,” Taer added.
WATCH:
Customs and Border Patrol encountered 25,627 “special interest migrants” in Fiscal Year 2022, according to data obtained by the DCNF. Sixty percent of those migrants came from Turkey, forming a part of the record number of encounters on the southern border from October 2021 through August 2022.
Rechenberg asked Taer about how well background checks could be done on the migrants.
“That’s something I spoke with Rodney Scott about is: what is the chance that there’s derogatory information found on special interest migrants? Well, he said that the concern with that is that many of these countries that they’re coming from don’t necessarily have great relationships with the United States and therefore information sharing is scarce, if there’s any, and then as far as their security apparatus, they just do not have the tools to keep records also,” Taer said “So he said that with what’s happening at the border right now, this surge is really putting our national security at risk.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.