Sheriff’s Group Says, ‘Too Little Too Late’ After Border Patrol Warns Hamas Terrorists May Try to Cross US-Mexico Border

Border Patrol agents are stretched thin dealing with illegal immigrants voluntarily surrendering—so being on the lookout for terrorists is a daunting task.

Illegal immigrants walk toward a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 28, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

A warning circulated internally among officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) warns that terrorists associated with the Israel-Hamas war may try to cross into the United States from Mexico, sources have confirmed with The Epoch Times.

The warning comes as the number of illegal immigrant ‘gotaways’ has dramatically increased.

“I think it’s too little too late to start worrying about [Hamas terrorists] trying to cross the border when you’ve already reported an estimated 2 million gotaways, and you don’t have any idea who those people are that have come into this country,” Clint McDonald, Executive Director of the Southwestern Border Sheriffs Coalition told The Epoch Times.

“So now to start throwing out fear after you’ve opened the border is ridiculous.”

More than 18,000 people have eluded Border Patrol agents while sneaking across the U.S.-Mexico border since Oct. 1, according to a post from Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens on X.

“Over 18K known gotaways in the first 16 days of FY24. These are individuals whose identities & purpose we do not know. That is why you need every Border Patrol agent to be in the field and on patrol,” he wrote.

On his podcast, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned that the heightened number of gotaways is a major national security concern.

“If you were a terrorist, if you wanted to commit jihad, there is an obvious way to do that ... If you’re a terrorist who wants to murder Americans, the way to do it is to cross over our southern border because these idiots in the White House will let you go, and they’re not enforcing the border, and it’s not hard to be a gotaway,” Mr. Cruz said.

“I think it is indisputable, the risk of a terror attack today is greater than it has ever been since 9/11,” he said.

‘Worst Year‘ at US Border—’Ever’

Illegal immigrant encounters at the southwest border in the fiscal year of 2023 have increased over 40 percent since 2021, 4 percent compared to 2022, and more than 100 percent compared to 2019, making the last fiscal year the worst on record under the Biden administration, according to a recently released House Homeland Security Committee fact sheet: “Final FY23 Numbers Show Worst Year At Americas Border – Ever“.

“In the final month of FY2023, CBP recorded 269,735 encounters at the Southwest border, marking another unprecedented milestone under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and President Joe Biden’s open-borders policies,” the report states.

“This monthly number also represents an 86% increase from June 2023, when the Biden administration celebrated a short-lived drop in illegal crossings following the end of Title 42.”

Illegal immigrants wait in along the border wall to board a bus after surrendering to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents on the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas on May 12, 2023. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

The report suggests Border Patrol agents are already stretched thin dealing with the enormous amount of illegal immigrants voluntarily surrendering, and so being on the lookout for terrorists from Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group is a daunting task.

“There are no Border Patrol agents out there because they’re too busy processing the people that are turning themselves in; that means all those vast areas between the ports of entry are open, so anybody can come through and bring anything they want,” said Mr. McDonald.

According to statistics from the CBP, 169 people on the FBI terror watch list were encountered in the past 12 months between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border; 18 were apprehended in September alone—a number that is 72 percent higher than the previous year for apprehensions of individuals on the terror watchlist and, and is the most on record.

It’s a number that some counterterrorism experts believe may be on the low end.

“How many others on the terror watch list could have crossed through?” former FBI Special Agent and counterterrorism expert James Conway told The Epoch Times.

“The problem is that Iranian-backed militias are most sophisticated; Hezbollah has sleeper cells and operatives on the ground with operations targeting U.S. and Western targets in all four corners of the globe. I’ve been to all those places; the paradigm is the same with Iranian-backed Hezbollah.”

Mr. Conway says that militants from the Middle East have been targeting Americans and trying to cross into the United States through the southwestern border for years.

“Iranian-backed militias have been killing Americans for over 40 years, and now suddenly we’re concerned? They’ve been crossing the border since after 9/11, but [before the Biden administration] we focused on this threat, scrubbed the entries, and prevented a lot of bad guys from coming into the U.S,” said Mr. Conway, who now works as a senior strategist with the global security consulting firm Straife.

“I was involved in a case where we captured two Hezbollah operatives that crossed the southwestern border,” he added.

A Border Patrol agent listens to radio chatter near the border wall of San Diego, Calif., on May 31, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Targeting ’the Homeland’

A threat assessment from the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2024 warns that Border Patrol agents have encountered an increasing number of illegal immigrants on the terror watch list and have warned that “terrorists and criminal actors may exploit the elevated flow and increasingly complex security environment to enter the United States.”

The assessment further states that “Individuals with terrorism connections are interested in using established travel routes and permissive environments to facilitate access to the United States,” and that “foreign terrorist groups like al-Qa‘ida and ISIS are seeking to rebuild overseas, and they maintain worldwide networks of supporters that could seek to target the Homeland.”

DHS warns that among state actors, the agency expects “Iran to remain the primary sponsor of terrorism and continue its efforts to advance plots against individuals in the United States.”

“Iran-backed Hezbollah is the A-team, Hamas is junior varsity,” Mr. Conway said. “One must realize Hezbollah has over 130,000 cruise missiles in southern Lebanon aimed at Israel as we speak; I feel our national security is at its highest point in our history.”

Though DHS says there are no specific or credible threats against the United States at this time, the agency warns Americans to stay vigilant.

“The U.S. remains in a heightened threat environment and recent events reinforce that. As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, we have seen an increase in reports of threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and institutions. Lone offenders, motivated by a range of violent ideologies, pose the most likely threat,” the bulletin reads.