Illegal immigrants with 'terrorism ties' will continue to exploit border, Homeland Security report warns

Illegal immigrants with “terrorism ties” are expected to exploit the U.S. border as the threat environment remains high, the Department of Homeland Security warned Wednesday. 

The agency detailed a number of warnings in its annual Homeland Threat Assessment, which is used to inform local, state and federal agencies about public safety and security threats, saying the “terrorism threat environment” over the next year “will remain high.” 

“Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States,” the assessment states. 

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“Individuals with potential terrorism connections continue to attempt to enter the Homeland at both the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders and also through the immigration system,” it continued.

There were 172 encounters of nationals on the terror watchlist at the border between ports of entry last fiscal year and more than 560 at the ports of entry. 

The report also laid out concerns about violence in response to the 2024 election cycle, which has already seen assassination attempts on former President Trump’s life, as well as foreign violent extremists carrying out potential attacks in response to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. 

Groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda “maintain the enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland and have leveraged the conflict in the Middle East to reaffirm this intent,” the report said. 

“Among state actors, we expect Iran to remain the primary sponsor of terrorism and continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals—including current and former US officials—in the United States,” the assessment warned. 

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In addition to Iran, China and Russia have increasingly used artificial intelligence to create “more believable” text, video and audio to reach American audiences while hiding their origins, the report said. 

The terror watchlist, called the Terrorist Screening Dataset, includes known or suspected terrorists, as well as additional individuals believed to pose a potential threat to the U.S. — including affiliates of individuals on the watchlist.

Despite migrant encounters dipping slightly, they are still arriving in high numbers, “complicating border and immigration security,” according to the threat assessment. 

“Migrant encounters along the US-Canada border continue to increase, with over 181,000 migrant encounters in FY 2024 through August, compared to about 170,000 encounters at the same time in FY 2023,” the report said. “In contrast to the US-Mexico border, many watchlist encounters along the US-Canada border occur at ports of entry, and the vast majority of these individuals have legal status in Canada.”

Encounters with migrants from Eastern Hemisphere countries, including China, India, Russia, and western African nations, decreased slightly in FY 2024 from about 10% to 9% of overall encounters, but remain a higher proportion of encounters than before FY 2023, the report said.