A person on a terrorist watch list was arrested after illegally crossing the Texas border last month, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official confirmed to Fox News.
Carlos Obed Epesvedoya, 40, was arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety agents on February 21 while crossing the street near Eagle Pass.
A Customs and Border Protection official confirmed to Fox News Digital that the Colombian national is on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.
CBP officials told Fox News Digital that Yepes-Bedoya is a “positive individual” on the terrorist watch list, but did not name the terrorist organization.
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Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, are waiting to be processed by the Border Patrol. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
The arrests came days before President Biden and former President Donald Trump arrived in the Lone Star State to investigate the ongoing illegal immigration crisis. Mr. Trump visited Eagle Pass, and Mr. Biden visited Brownsville.
“This highlights the need for border security measures, as the potential threat to both public safety and national security is clear and exploits security vulnerabilities.” state DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez told the New York Post.
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Customs and Border Protection badge on a police officer’s sleeve. (Getty Images)
Olivares continued, “The federal government has failed to enact border security measures, and Texas will continue to take unprecedented action to support border security through Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.” said.
During a visit to the southern border on Thursday, Biden renewed his call on Republicans to support the bipartisan Senate border agreement. Illegal immigration continues to be a major political headache for the administration, as it seeks to shift the blame for the crisis onto Republicans.
“It’s very simple. It’s time to act. It’s long past time to act,” the president said. “The time has come to tackle this. We can’t wait any longer.”
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On Thursday, February 29, 2024, former President Trump met with Texas Governor Greg Abbott while visiting Eagle Pass, Texas. (Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The visits that took place at the same time were Trump’s The trip to the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, comes as illegal immigration remains a thorny issue for the administration, a key issue in the 2024 election. Polls show that more than half of Americans believe the large number of illegal immigrants entering the United States is a serious threat to the country.
The crisis is now in its third year, with more than 2.4 million encounters in FY23 and more than 300,000 in December alone, breaking records for monthly encounters and setting multiple records. There is.
President Trump has declared the Mexican border a “war zone” under the Biden administration, deploring Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador’s lack of cooperation as a deluge of migrants converge on the border region. The state’s Democratic governors lost their jobs.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
