Border securityU.S. counterterror officials see no signs of IS, al-Qaeda on southern border
U.S. counterterrorism officials are sticking by their assessment that terror groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda are not actively trying to sneak operatives into the country from Mexico, despite claims by the White House and Homeland Security officials that “the threat is real.” “We do not see any evidence that ISIS or other Sunni terrorist groups are trying to infiltrate the southern U.S. border,” a senior counterterrorism official first told VOA in November, while acknowledging the existence of “vulnerabilities at both our northern and southern borders.”
U.S. counterterrorism officials are sticking by their assessment that terror groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda are not actively trying to sneak operatives into the country from Mexico, despite claims by the White House and Homeland Security officials that “the threat is real.”
“We do not see any evidence that ISIS or other Sunni terrorist groups are trying to infiltrate the southern U.S. border,” a senior counterterrorism official first told VOA in November, while acknowledging the existence of “vulnerabilities at both our northern and southern borders.”
Contacted again ahead of President Donald Trump’s prime-time television address Tuesday on what the White House has repeatedly described as a “crisis” at the southern border, officials said there was no new information to cause their assessment to be updated.
The assessment would appear to leave U.S. counterterror officials at odds with both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, which have repeatedly emphasized the danger from suspected terrorists in recent days as the administration has been trying to make the case for building a wall along the border with Mexico.
“The threat is real. The number of terror-watchlisted encountered at our Southern border has increased over the last two years,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen wrote late Monday, the first in a series of tweets on the subject.
“The exact number is sensitive, and details about these cases are extremely sensitive,” she added.
I am sure all Americans would agree that one terrorist reaching our borders is one too many. These are just the terror suspects we know about who reach our border.
— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) January 8, 2019
Department of Homeland Security officials have repeatedly said that they stop, on average, about 10 people on the terror watchlist from entering the United State on any given day, and more than 3,700 for Fiscal Year 2017.
