by Rebeka Zeljko
Over 1.7 million migrants who have been encountered along the southern border during the Biden-Harris administration have been flagged as “potential national security threats,” according to a House Judiciary Committee report released Thursday.
The migrants, who largely entered the country under Vice President Kamala Harris’ leadership as “border czar,” have been designated as “special interest aliens” (SIAs) due to having come from countries “considered to be a threat” to American national security, according to the report. Since January 2021, nearly eight million migrants have entered the country illegally along the southern border, with at least 382 of them found to be on the U.S. government’s terrorist watchlist.
“The terrorist threat to the United States has skyrocketed due to the Biden-Harris Administration’s dangerous open-borders policies,” the report reads.
“Despite the Biden-Harris Administration’s attempt to cover up the national security nightmare created by the open southwest border, the Committee’s and Subcommittee’s oversight has revealed significant policy failures that make our country vulnerable to people and countries that seek to do us harm,” the report continued.
The Department of Homeland Security admitted to the House committee that SIA status does not affect an illegal migrant’s admissibility into the country, according to the report. As a result, the Biden-Harris administration allegedly released migrants who were known to be on the terrorist watchlist or who had confirmed potential terrorist ties into the country.
The report pointed to the case of Mohammad Kharwin, who was initially put on the terrorist watchlist in 2018, later had his name misspelled when the records were updated in 2019. Because of this discrepancy, Border Patrol agents released Kharwin into the U.S., despite his “possible terrorism ties.”
“There can be no doubt that the surge of illegal aliens into the country during the Biden-Harris Administration has weakened our national security and made our communities more vulnerable to those who seek to do us harm,” the report reads.
There are currently 26 “special interest” countries, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Syria and Turkey, according to the report. The Department of Homeland Security recently added 12 more countries to the list, including China, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.
“Kamala Harris has failed disastrously as the Border Czar,” Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Arizona said in a Thursday post on X. “FBI Director Chris Wray has warned Congress of the dangers of the Biden-Harris regime’s open borders. We have no way of knowing how many terrorists have invaded our country under the Border Czar’s watch.”
The White House press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Rebeka Zeljko is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
