On June 4, President Joe Biden unveiled plans to halt asylum processing at the United States-Mexico border after facing criticism over his administration’s response to an influx of migrants in the country.
Hours after Biden’s plans were released, Fox Business TV host Elizabeth MacDonald claimed Biden had “let in” nearly 1,700 “illegal aliens” with links to terrorism while interviewing U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Former President Donald Trump made a similar claim during a June 14 speech in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“Instead of keeping out terrorists, Joe Biden has allowed thousands and thousands of terrorists to pour in for years,” Trump said.
Some people online questioned whether these claims were true.
THE QUESTION
Has President Joe Biden “let in” nearly 1,700 people with links to terrorism?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, President Joe Biden has not “let in” nearly 1,700 people with links to terrorism.
WHAT WE FOUND
President Joe Biden has not “let in” nearly 1,700 people with links to terrorism.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have encountered individuals on the federal terrorist watchlist nearly 1,700 times since Biden took office — that means those people were stopped and detained by Border Patrol while trying to enter the U.S., and did not escape into the country.
The Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) – also known as the “watchlist” – is the U.S. government’s database that contains sensitive information about known or suspected terrorists and individuals “who represent a potential threat to the United States,” according to CBP.
CBP data from June 5 showed 1,664 watchlist encounters from fiscal year 2021, starting Oct. 30, 2020, through May 15, 2024. That includes nearly three months before Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021.
About 78% of the encounters were at legal ports, where entry into the U.S. can be denied. The other 367 encounters occurred between legal ports, nearly all at the Southwest border.
According to CBP, individuals on the watchlist “may be detained and removed or turned over to another government agency for subsequent detention or law enforcement action, as appropriate.”
CBP also notes that “encounters of watchlisted individuals at our borders are very uncommon.”
“It is hard to imagine a situation where CBP would just release a person on the watchlist,” Denise Gilman, co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, told the Associated Press when similar claims were circulating online in 2022.
A Fox spokesperson provided no evidence that any of the encounters resulted in entries.
This story was reported in collaboration with Wisconsin Watch, a member of the Gigafact network, and was originally reported by Tom Kertscher.
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