The chairmen of two key House committees are slamming the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for failing to respond following the release of a warning report about potential terrorism threats at the border.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) responded to the findings of a House Judiciary Committee investigation that found that approximately 100 illegal immigrants on terrorism watch lists have been released into the country under the Biden administration.
“It is unacceptable that the Biden-Harris Administration will keep our southern border open and not know who is entering our country, including potential terrorists, or where they are once they enter the country,” Turner and Greene said in a joint statement.
Two Republican lawmakers wrote the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in April asking what procedures are in place to detect people on terrorism watch lists attempting to cross the U.S. border and to locate them if they are released.
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Two House committee chairs, Rep. Mike Turner (left) and Rep. Mark Green, react to a shocking report on the terror threat at the border. (Getty Images)
“The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have yet to answer these most basic questions,” they said.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s failed open border policies have allowed potential terrorists into our country, so we are working to combat these threats and protect the American people in our own backyard. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security must answer our call.”
The FBI declined to comment on the statement. Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS for comment.
FBI Director Christopher Wray himself has warned at multiple congressional hearings about the potential terrorism threat emanating from the southwest border.
“I have long warned that foreign terrorists may use our southwest border and other ports of entry to plot against Americans,” he recently told the House Judiciary Committee. “For example, last month ICE and Joint Terrorism Task Forces worked with ICE in multiple cities across the country to make arrests using ICE immigration enforcement authorities against individuals with suspected international terrorist ties.”
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FBI Director Christopher Wray discussed the terrorist threat at the border. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“In the lead up to these arrests, hundreds of FBI employees have spent countless hours working to understand the threat and identify individuals of further concern,” Wray said. “As much as we are concerned about known or suspected terrorists encountered at the border, we are arguably even more concerned about individuals we don’t yet know about because they presented false documentation or had no intelligence indicating a terrorist connection upon their arrival in the United States.”
At least 99 illegal immigrants on the terrorism watch list were released into the U.S. by the Department of Homeland Security after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between fiscal years 2021 and 2023, according to the report published earlier this week and first obtained by Fox News Digital.
At least 34 people remain in Department of Homeland Security custody but have not yet been removed from the U.S., the report said.
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The shocking report came from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s committee. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The officials’ interim report also found that immigration judges had granted bail to at least 27 migrants on watch lists who had entered the country illegally and that Border Patrol had encountered tens of thousands of migrants from countries that may pose national security risks, including 2,134 Afghans, 33,347 Chinese, 541 Iranians, 520 Syrians and 3,104 Uzbeks.
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“This does not include the countless potential terrorists among the nearly 2 million ‘fugitives’ who have evaded Border Patrol and entered the United States since the Biden-Harris administration took office,” the report said.
Citing information provided to committee staff in June, the report also found that Border Patrol agents encountered migrants from 36 countries on terrorism watch lists, including countries with active terrorist activity. These countries include Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Tajikistan and Yemen.
