How many people from terrorism-sponsoring states enter the U.S. illegally?

wanted to find out whether there is evidence of would-be terrorists entering the U.S. illegally through Mexico.”

Matthew Chandler, press secretary for DHS, told the paper that “at this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the southwest border.”

Eric Olson, a senior associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. echoed that thought in a 17 March Texas Tribune news article, saying that the State Department’s most recent report on terrorism gave no indication that Mexico has become a launch pad for terrorists crossing the border illegally.

“I suppose anyone that hates the U.S. would find a way to get in,” he told the Tribune. “But so far, most of the cases (of those visitors who have sought to harm the U.S.) have been overstayed visas. They come in through the front door, not the back door.”

David Shirk, director of the University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute, which studies border-related topics such as the cooperation between the United States and Mexico on security initiatives, told the American-Statesman that although the United States has been arresting people at the border from countries associated with terrorism, that does not necessarily indicate that those individuals were would-be terrorists.

Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence for Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence company, told the papers that Cornyn’s comments are “spot-on” and that there is reason to be concerned about potential terrorists coming across the southwestern border. As an example, he pointed to a 3 June Stratfor assessment noting that in late May, DHS “issued a lookout to authorities in Texas, warning that … (a) Somali purportedly linked to al Shabaab was believed to be in Mexico and was allegedly planning to attempt to cross the border into the United States.”

Al Shabaab, an Islamist militant group based in Somalia that has fought the nation’s transitional government for years, has been on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations since early 2008.

Where does that leave us? Here is the American-Statesman’s conclusions:

Cornyn’s claim — that people from countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism have been arrested on the Mexican border for illegally entering the U.S.— relies on Border Patrol statistics that the agency won’t confirm or deny. However, they appear to be consistent with broader data the agency has made public. And we have no reason to question the authenticity of the information we received from Cornyn’s office.

But in the larger context of Cornyn’s concerns about security on the Mexican border, his own numbers show that 87 percent of the apprehensions of people from “terrorism” countries took place elsewhere. And our spot-check found that the Border Patrol made three times as many of those arrests in 2005, during the Bush administration, than in 2009.

 

Because Cornyn’s statement leaves out key details, we rate it Half True.