A growing number of people on the U.S. Terrorist Watchlist were encountered at U.S. borders in 2023, homeland security officials said on Thursday, noting in an annual report that a record number of migrant arrivals had “complicated border and immigration security” this past year.
Approximately 160 non-U.S. citizens on the watchlist attempted to cross into the United States in 2023, “most of whom were encountered attempting to illegally enter between ports of entry,” the Department of Homeland Security said in its annual Homeland Threat Assessment. That is an increase from 2022, when border officials encountered roughly 100 individuals on the watchlist attempting to enter the country.
“We expect continued high numbers of migrant encounters over the next year because traditional drivers of migration to the United States remain unchanged and frustration with waiting for legal migration pathways may grow,” the report reads. “Terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.”