Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) is slamming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for “protecting the identities” of illegal immigrants who are on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's terrorist watch list.
“I am writing about disturbing reports that the Department of Homeland Security is refusing to disclose the nationalities of suspects on the FBI terrorism watch list who have crossed our southern border illegally,” Cotton said. write DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
As Cotton points out, Fox News filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in October 2023, asking the Department of Homeland Security for the nationalities of illegal immigrants who crossed the border since January 2021 and were subsequently placed on terrorist watch lists.
In response to the request, the Department of Homeland Security said it was “committed to protecting the identities of individuals on terrorism watch lists” and that releasing such information would be an “invasion of individual privacy.”
“[DHS] Cotton argued that the “privacy interests” of illegal alien terrorists far outweigh any public interest in making their information public.
Your letter also makes the dubious assertion that terrorist organisations could use nationality information by making “inferences”.[ring] The situation of “a large number of agents of a particular nationality” does not raise many warning signs of terrorism.If the Biden-Harris administration enforces the law fairly and deports illegal immigrants regardless of their place of origin, terrorists will not be able to game the system. In the way you described. [Emphasis added]
I believe the real reason for illegally concealing information about the nationalities of terrorism suspects is not privacy or security concerns, but partisan fears of intimidating the American people. You are trying to hide evidence of the border crisis under the Biden-Harris Administration. [Emphasis added]
But Americans have a right to know who is crossing our borders, especially if those illegal immigrants have ties to terrorism. And that right, contrary to your bizarre assertion, “far outweighs” the privacy rights of illegal immigrants suspected of terrorism. Honestly, I can't believe I have to write this. [Emphasis added]
Cotton has asked Mayorkas to provide his Senate office with a list of the nationalities of illegal immigrants on the terrorism watch list by September 10.
As of July, Biden and Harris' Department of Homeland Security: Approx. 400 An illegal immigrant who has been on a terrorist watch list since early January 2021.
A shocking report recently released by the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement found that the Biden-Harris Administration has “released at least 99 people into American communities and has not yet deported at least 34 people in Department of Homeland Security custody outside the United States.”
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
