Calling on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, a group of representatives led by U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Ryan Zinke (R-MT) introduced a resolution this week to recognize an outsized number of suspected terrorists recently seized at the northern border.
This year, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered 505 people at ports of entry on the terror watchlist. Of these, 429 were encountered at the Northern border. The representatives called this an alarming trend and sought to draw attention to it, citing in particular their fears of so-called special interest aliens from Middle East countries surrounding the now-warring Israel and Gaza Strip.
“At a time of increased global uncertainty, we must take every measure necessary to secure our country,” Kelly said. “That includes our Northern border, which is greatly unsecured and overexposed. The majority of suspected terrorists caught this year have crossed between the U.S. and Canada, which is the longest continuous border between two countries in the entire world.”
So far, 85 percent of all suspected terrorists encountered at land border ports of entry have attempted to cross into the U.S. along the northern border, up from 34 percent in 2021. Zinke blamed this on the Biden administration, claiming that a rush of federal attention on the southern border – which Republicans have called for – subsequently left the north vulnerable.
“In the wake of tragedy the world is experiencing in the Middle East, it is imperative we look in every direction and lock it down so Americans stay as safe as possible – that includes the North where Mayorkas is failing,” Zinke said.
Kelly and Zinke founded the Northern Border Security Caucus earlier this year, focused on the more than 5,500 U.S.-Canadian border that runs from Alaska to Maine. In this case, they were backed by U.S. Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Reps. Jack Bergman (R-MI), Carol Miller (R-WV), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), and John Moolenaar (R-MI) as co-sponsors.