The unnamed individual, who the memo only identifies as a member of the Somali terror group al-Shabaab, was released shortly after being caught illegally crossing the southern border near San Ysidro, California on March 13, 2023, according to the memo, which the DCNF is not publishing in order to protect the identity of a confidential source. The Terrorist Screening Center “deemed him a ‘mismatch’” after running his name through the terror watchlist, according to the memo, which was sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

However, on January 18, 2024, the Terrorist Screening Center “made a redetermination” that the individual was “a confirmed member of al-Shabaab” and was involved in the use, manufacture or transport of explosives or firearms, the memo states. Two days later, ICE nabbed the al-Shabaab member in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Border Patrol caught 172 terror watchlist suspects attempting to enter the U.S. illegally during fiscal year 2023. Former homeland security officials say the constant deluge of illegal immigrants hitting the southern border is making it easier for bad actors to slip into the country.

“Many within the Biden administration, including Secretary Mayorkas, have repeatedly assured us that the vetting process at the border is comprehensive and complete,” John Fabbricatore, a retired ICE field director who now sits on the National Immigration Center for Enforcement’s (NICE) board, told the DCNF. “However, we continue to witness alarming instances where terrorists are able to freely roam the United States for months after being released at the border before their criminal and terrorist histories come to light.”

The number of suspected terrorists caught trying to illegally cross the southern border continues to grow. Border Patrol agents apprehended 50 illegal immigrants on the terror watchlist between October and December of last year, according to federal data. For comparison, there were a total of 30 such encounters between fiscal years 2017 and 2020.

“This situation is greatly endangering our nation, and it is clear that our safety is dependent on enforcing our immigration laws and securing the border,” said Fabbricatore, who’s also running for Congress.

Mass releases of illegal migrants under the Biden administration have placed immense pressure on federal authorities to move people through the system quickly.

“People have been released prior to completed records checks being returned on a subject. Which would not allow proper processing and placement of a potential terrorist once those results were known,” an ICE official, who previously served as a Border Patrol agent, told the DCNF on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Border Patrol can only hold migrants in custody for up to 72 hours, but it often takes much longer to receive information from background checks, Fabbricatore said.

“The overburdening of the Border Patrol with the excessive amounts of illegal border crossers has forced faster processing times, which doesn’t allow for a more vigorous initial investigation into a migrants background. The background checks currently being run only initially search out criminal history in the United States, not outside its borders. It could take days, weeks, or months to connect derogatory information coming from other databases,” Fabbricatore said.

There were 860,000 individuals who are known to have snuck into the country illegally without apprehension in 2023.

“Many within the Biden administration, including Secretary Mayorkas, have repeatedly assured us that the vetting process at the border is comprehensive and complete,”Fabbricatore, who is also running for Congress, said. “However, we continue to witness alarming instances where terrorists are able to freely roam the United States for months after being released at the border before their criminal and terrorist histories come to light. This situation is greatly endangering our nation, and it is clear that our safety is dependent on enforcing our immigration laws and securing the border,” Fabbricatore said.

The U.S. government has considered Al-Shabaab a foreign terrorist organization since 2008. The terrorist group operates in Somalia and has also committed attacks in Kenya and Uganda, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

U.S. forces killed three al-Shabaab terrorists in a self defense air strike on Jan. 21 at the request of the Somali government

Al-Shabaab has carried out bombings, including suicide attacks, and the group has assassinated Somali peace activists, international aid workers, journalists and numerous civil society figures, according to the National Counterterrorism Center. The terror group carried out a 2013 attack on Westgate mall in Nairobi, killing 67 people, and in 2017 killed hundreds of civilians in Mogadishu through two suicide attacks.

After Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, federal authorities warned Border Patrol to be on alert for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah terrorists attempting to illegally cross the southern border, according to an internal memo exclusively obtained by the DCNF at the time.

“It is clear that our safety is dependent on enforcing our immigration laws and securing the border,” Fabbricatore said.

ICE didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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Capitol Police first nabbed Jose Leonardo Marquez, 23, after noticing a machete under his clothes, and ICE took his into custody on Dec. 27, according to the agency. Border Patrol apprehended Marquez on August 21, 2022 and released him from custody “due to a lack of detention capacity,” enrolling him in the tracking program known as “Alternatives to Detention.”

“Jose Leonardo Marquez-Marquez posed a significant threat to people in and around the U.S. Capitol,” Patrick Divver, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C. acting field office director, said in a statement regarding the arrest. “Thanks to our law enforcement partners at the U.S. Capitol Police, this threat was mitigated quickly. Fortunately, Marquez is currently in ERO custody and will face removal proceedings.”

Marquez checked in with ICE on Oct. 5, where he received a court date, according to the agency.

Capitol Police charged Marquez with carrying a dangerous weapon and possessing a prohibited weapon, ICE said.

Illegal immigration at the southern border has hit record highs in recent years, with the number of Border Patrol encounters of illegal migrants surpassing 2 million in fiscal year 2023 and 2.2. million in fiscal year 2022, according to federal data.

ICE made roughly 3,000 criminal arrests in fiscal year 2023 after more than 2,200 in fiscal year 2022 and about 2,300 in fiscal year 2021, according to the agency.

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ICE nabbed the 62-year-old fugitive in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, on Nov. 28, the agency said. The fugitive fled Brazil after his conviction, but before his sentencing, and entered the U.S. via New York in April.

Brazilian authorities issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to show up to serve his sentence in May, according to ICE.

“There is no more repulsive and disturbing crime than the sexual assault of a child. We are proud to have apprehended this convicted rapist and will seek to remove him from the United States so that he cannot prey on the members of our community,” Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said in a statement.

The Brazilian national remains in ICE custody pending his removal proceedings, the agency said.

The U.S. government typically requires that applicants seeking visas partake in an interview with an embassy or consulate official, according to the State Department. Criminal activity tied to an applicant may disqualify them from obtaining a visa.

“Convicted foreign fugitives are not welcome here. ERO Boston will not relent in our efforts to locate, apprehend and remove them from our country,” Lyons said.

ICE arrested more than 46,000 noncitizens with criminal backgrounds in fiscal year 2022, which included more than 8,000 sexual assault offenses, according to the agency.

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Border Patrol agents from the Douglas, Arizona, station are being called up to help agents at the Tucson migrant processing center, which temporarily holds migrants who illegally cross the border. Border Patrol has roughly 4,600 illegal migrants in custody as of Sunday evening in all of the Tucson sector compared to nearly 20,000 nationwide, two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, told the DCNF.

The agents in Douglas are being called up for “processing and transportation support,” according to the memo. The assignments will also entail sending specialized units, such as horse patrols, and manning sensors for illegal aliens running from law enforcement.

“Until further notice, all specialty units (Sensors, HPU, BCL) will report to the Douglas Station and attend musters on their scheduled shifts,” the memo reads. “HPU will maintain one agent to care for the horses, but all others will be deployed as needed by the Watch Commander.”

The situation in the Tucson sector has become so dire that the Tucson Border Patrol announced Sunday it was temporarily shutting down its social media.

“In light of the ongoing migration surge, all Tucson Sector Border Patrol social media accounts will be paused until further notice,” the announcement read.” We appreciate your understanding and continued support during this challenging time. Honor First.”

NEW: The Border Patrol’s Tucson sector has “paused” its social media accounts due to “an ongoing migration surge” pic.twitter.com/NiBwI6qSdG

— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) November 26, 2023

Border Patrol has recorded record illegal immigration at the southern border in recent years. In fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol encounters topped 2.2 million, followed by more than 2 million in fiscal year 2023.

“This is embarrassing,” one of the DHS officials said, adding that the blame is on the Biden administration.

“Everybody is getting pulled off the line for processing,” the official added.

CBP didn’t immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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(Daily Caller News Foundation)—New York City is trying to expel migrants by offering them plane tickets to leave for other states, or places outside of the country, but many of them don’t want to leave, according to dozens of migrants the Daily Caller News Foundation interviewed.

Migrants entering the reticketing center, which the city recently established to help migrants leave the area, told the DCNF that they don’t want to go elsewhere because they came to New York City for the resources it provides as a sanctuary city. The reticketing center is located in the since-closed St. Brigid School in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where migrants can get a free, one-way ticket to the location of their choice provided by the city government.

“Visit the center where you can be provided with a ticket to travel anywhere,” a city flyer that was distributed to migrants and shown to the DCNF read.

Susej, a Venezuelan migrant, told the DCNF that he does not plan to leave the city despite the possibility of soon facing eviction. He is currently staying in a hostel until Nov. 12, but may “have to sleep on the street” if he cannot find another shelter, he said.

“I already started my asylum process. Besides, as a gay, I don’t want to continue suffering. The life of a gay and immigrant is not easy,” Susej said. “If I had a job, I wouldn’t bother any shelter because I know that as immigrants we are already one more nuisance because of the bad people in my country who do bad acts that make us look bad, when in reality not all of us are doing wrong.”

A second migrant from Venezuela has been sleeping on the subway because he was told there was no shelter for him, but he still wants to stay in the city, he told the DCNF. Others were being turned away at the reticketing center due to lack of shelter, as well.

A migrant from Turkey, who asked to remain anonymous due to threats in his home country, told the DCNF that he’s choosing to stay in the hopes that the sanctuary city will help him get his driver’s license and work.

“My goal is … to become a truck driver and work long distances,” he said. “I don’t feel safe if I return to my country. That’s why I came. I took refuge in the U.S., it is not that easy to leave.”

“It makes us feels sad that they don’t want us,” the migrant added, saying he’d rather serve the U.S. military than that of Turkey.

The migrants who spoke to the DCNF came from all over the world, including China, Morocco, Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Turkey, Russia, Venezuela, Chile, Honduras and Ecuador. Some of them had been in New York City for months, and others for days.

New York City sees providing one-way airline tickets as a cheaper solution than sheltering migrants long-term, as it has cared for roughly 130,000 migrants since 2022, according to Politico. The city is evicting some migrants out of shelters after 30 days, The City reported.

New York City deployed flyers to the southern border over the summer to send the message that it has run out of room for migrants. The flyers asked migrants to consider choosing another city to travel to.

“When you are out of room, that means you’re out of room,” Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently told reporters. “Every year, my relatives show up for Thanksgiving, and they want to all sleep at my house. There’s no more room. That’s where we are right now.”

Out of dozens of migrants the DCNF talked to outside of the reticketing center, only three said that they were choosing to leave New York City for Boston, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

“No one cares about our problems,” Jesus from Venezuela told the DCNF after arriving in Washington D.C., through the reticketing process. “Yesterday, I stayed in a hospital, I have nowhere to be.”

The number of illegal migrants that got into the U.S. in fiscal year 2023 surpassed the populations of 11 states, a recent DCNF review of federal data found.

“There aren’t resources here. I like New York, but there’s not much work here,” a migrant from Honduras named Antonio, who was heading to New Jersey, told the DCNF.

Adam’s office didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment and didn’t respond to a question about how many migrants chose to be reticketed.

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The Village of Oak Park is caring for more than 100 migrants that needed shelter amid cold temperatures, according to the press release from the local board. The migrants were largely living outside of a Chicago Police Department station.

The Chicago suburb approved $150,000 on Oct. 30 for migrants in addition to $150,000 in grant funding from Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, according to the press release. Village Manager Kevin J. Jackson also opened an emergency operations center Nov. 1 to help migrants get shelter.

With the help of local faith-based organizations, the Village of Oak Park has been able to offer migrants help with translations and medical care. Local leaders, however, have asked that the community pause donations of supplies and meals as there is a plan to help migrants in the short-term.

“Following the activation of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Wednesday, the Village’s emergency response plan to this situation remains in development. Once solidified, officials expect to put out a call to the community for ongoing support to address the needs of the migrant population,” the village board said in a statement regarding a pause on donations.

Federal authorities at the southern border have seen a surge in illegal immigration in recent years. The number of migrants that got into the U.S. either after law enforcement apprehension or by running from authorities is larger than the populations of 11 states, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of fiscal year 2023 data found.

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Encounters of Chinese migrants crossing illegally jumped from 1,970 in fiscal year 2022 to 24,048 in fiscal year 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Border Patrol encounters of illegal immigrants at the southern border surpassed two million, overall.

“Right now in China there’s extreme pessimism, especially among people in their 20s about the future of their country, so it’s understandable that they’re leaving and they’re trying to get into the United States. And, you know, these are people who are relatively middle class, so it shows you the problems in Chinese society are severe,” China expert Gordon Chang previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

There is also some suspicion that the migrants from China are coming for nefarious purposes.

“When I first saw that the surge in Chinese migrants, that’s the thought that came to my mind that these are either Ministry of State Security agents or Chinese military, who are coming to this country to commit acts of sabotage against the US,” Chang said.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green said in June that he had evidence that some of the Chinese migrants crossing the southern border are connected to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“In terms of the verification that the individuals released into the United States have ties to the PLA came from a sector chief and I’ll leave it with that at this point. We have a classified briefing coming up in the very near future,” Green said at the time.

CBP didn’t immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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New York City, Miami-Dade County, Denver and Chicago school systems have all had to adapt to the influx of migrants, according to reports. Border Patrol recorded more than 632,000 encounters of migrant families and unaccompanied children in fiscal year 2022 at the southern border and more than 365,000 in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023, according to federal data.

New York

An estimated 16,000 migrant children have enrolled in New York City public schools since the fall, according to the New York Post.

New York City’s West 105th Street school has 535 students enrolled, which is 100 more than it can hold, due to a surge in illegal migrants coming to the area, according to the Post. In 2022, the school had 393 students.

As a result of the influx, the school has turned a music room, a science lab and a TV studio into classrooms, taking away prime afterschool and daily program spaces from students, according to the Post. Some parents at the school are furious over the issue.

“It’s just unacceptable,” said Anna Azvolinsky, who is the parent of two kids enrolled at the school. “These kids deserve better,” she added.

Florida

In Florida’s Miami-Dade County, more than 20,000 new migrant students have enrolled in public school so far this year, according to NPR.

“Some of these kids didn’t know their ABCs in second grade,” Milam K-8 Center teacher Emelia Bruscantini told NPR.

Milam K-8 Center Principal Anna Hernandez has never seen a surge like this, she told NPR.

“It’s just honestly, like, sometimes I come into the lobby, and there’ll be – like, the families are all over the place, like, just, you know, waiting,” Hernandez told NPR.

The CFO of Miami-Dade Public Schools Ron Steiger says the issue has been a budgetary burden. “It certainly puts a stress on our finances,” Steiger told NPR.

Chicago

As the school year ends in Chicago, dozens of migrant students are enrolling at the last minute in the city’s public schools, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Migrant children living in city shelters can enroll in schools “even if he or she lacks health, immunization or school records, proof of guardianship, proof of residency, or any other documentation normally required for school enrollment,” Chicago Public Schools said, according to the Sun-Times.

Denver

Denver area schools have added 1,500 new students to their rolls as a result of more migrant children arriving in the area in the last year, according to an NPR report. The number of multi-lingual students in Denver schools has more than doubled since 2020.

Denver Public Schools’ Manager of Multilingual Family Engagement Sary Portillo told NPR that “We’ve been meeting with families in shelters. We’ve met them in hotels. So when we had this large influx, we had at some points, like, 15, 20 students at a time that we had to register.”

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The Penn Biden Center and the National Conference on Citizenship published a 2020 report, which was funded by a $259,050 grant from Open Society Foundations, recommending increasing the number of refugees permitted to come to the U.S. and easing restrictions on refugee eligibility, actions the White House has since taken. The report was led by Ariana Berengaut, who now serves as senior adviser to national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and Eric Hysen, who was sworn in as chief information officer (CIO) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in February 2021; Rosanna Kim, who serves as senior adviser for the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) since January 2021, also contributed to the report.

Soros, a major donor to left-wing causes and candidates, founded Open Society Foundations and remains a major funder of the organization.

Of the report’s recommendations highlighting how the U.S. government should expand the refugee system, several proposals have been implemented during the authors’ tenures in the Biden administration, including increasing cooperation with the United Nations (UN) to work with the U.S. to bring in more refugees, increasing the number of Latin American and Caribbean refugees and expanding refugee processing in the Western hemisphere.

For instance, the report recommended raising the refugee cap to 125,000, which President Joe Biden later did in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The Trump administration had previously slashed the refugee cap to 15,000, a historic low for the U.S. government, which Biden increased to 62,500 in fiscal year 2021.

“The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) is at a crossroads. Under the Trump Administration, years of assault on the program have slashed admissions to historic lows, effectively eviscerating a bipartisan tradition of extending a lifeline to the world’s most vulnerable people. If a new president is sworn into office in January 2021, he will likely arrive with a mandate to significantly increase refugee admissions levels,” a summary of the report stated.

Consistent with the report’s recommendation, DHS and the State Department, during Hysen and Kim’s tenures, jointly expanded “processing of refugees from the Western hemisphere” by recently announcing the creation of processing centers in Latin America ahead of the end of Title 42, a Trump-era border policy, on May 11. The centers, which have UN officials working there, determine whether a migrant is eligible for refugee status in either the U.S., Canada or Spain.

The Biden White House also raised the number of Latin American and Caribbean refugees the U.S. would accept to 15,000 in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

“Under the Obama Administration, the average size of the LAC regional cap was roughly 4,400 with projected arrivals consistently falling significantly short (in FY16, a cap of 3,000 was set with only 1,500 refugees projected to arrive). A new administration should significantly raise the regional LAC cap for admissions as an early demonstration of U.S. commitment to addressing the magnitude and severity of protection needs in the region, particularly in response to refugees fleeing the Northern Triangle countries and Venezuela,” the report stated.

Moreover, the White House restarted the Central American Minors Program, which the report requested, to allow children living in Central America to seek refugee status and live in the U.S. in March 2021. In April, DHS announced that it’s expanding the program to allow certain previous program applicants to reapply.

The White House, the National Security Council’s office, DHS, Hysen and the State Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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The checklist, which was attached to a December 2022 email for “Safe Community Release,” states that in order to make community releases Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) must lack space, Border Patrol facilities must exceed capacity in order to allow for the release of migrants and the number of migrant encounters surpasses ICE and NGO capacity on a daily basis.

Border Patrol is required to meet all of the aforementioned criteria before making such releases.

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd confirmed the validity of the documents, saying that while the checklist is policy, the overwhelming number of migrants in processing has led to releases without use of the document.

“This is policy that this is supposed to be done. Whether it falls through the cracks because of how busy we are, certainly things will fall through the cracks,” Judd told the DCNF.

Federal authorities at the southern border recorded more than 3.6 million migrant encounters between October 2022 and March 2023.

“Sectors will need to completely fill out the checklist with names and titles of all notified parties and email to USBP HQ at least 1 hour prior to completing the release,” the memo about the latest checklist stated.

It is used not just by southern border sectors, but also in the northern border, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

“If there is further pertinent information about the release that the sector will need to relay to USBP HQ (i.e., media attention), it should be included in the email,” the memo stated.

The concern about migrant releases into southern border communities increased ahead of the expiration of Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion order, on May 11. Hours before the policy’s sunset, Yuma, Arizona, Mayor Doug Nicholls announced that migrants would be released into local communities.

Federal authorities expelled more than 2 million migrants using Title 42.

The DCNF also observed Border Patrol releasing migrants from Haiti and Romania that had crossed the northern border with Canada in March.

Meanwhile, with the lifting of Title 42, the Biden administration sought the use of parole authority to release migrants into the U.S. without court dates, instructing them to self-report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A federal judge, however, quickly struck down the latest use of parole after Florida sued.

The Biden administration insisted after the judge’s move that federal border authorities aren’t “allowing” the “mass release of migrants.”

“The claims that CBP[U.S. Customs and Border Protection] is allowing or encouraging mass release of migrants is just categorically false. That is not what’s occurring, that is not what’s happening,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre said Friday.

On Thursday alone, federal authorities released more than 6,000 migrants using parole, according to court documents.

Neither CBP nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to requests for comment.

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