The White House is downplaying the national security implications of two suspected terrorists being arrested at the southern border as federal officials struggle with a surge in migrant crossings under President Joe Biden.
It is “uncommon” for border agents to apprehend known or suspected terrorists, White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted Tuesday.
“While this is rare, this is a reflection of them doing their jobs,” Psaki told reporters, referring to Border Patrol and other federal officers.
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Two Yemeni men on the FBI’s terror watch and “no-fly” lists were arrested within two months of one another on the U.S.-Mexico border in California, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection.
The first man, 33, was stopped on Jan. 29 after he allegedly tried to cross the border near Calexico. He had a mobile phone SIM card in his shoe. The second man, 26, was detained after he was found nearby on March 30. CBP declined to disclose their names, but it said that the first man was in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
DHS’s work at the border, in partnership with international allies, is “critical,” Psaki added Tuesday.
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Psaki was also pressed on a report saying that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas may restart border wall construction to fill “gaps” in the existing barrier.
“There’s some limited construction that has been funded and allocated for, but it is otherwise paused,” Psaki said.
Biden revoked former President Donald Trump’s border emergency designation and prevented Pentagon money from being redirected to a wall, a campaign promise Trump made in 2016. But Mayorkas told ICE last week that there is still “room” to make decisions regarding “particular areas of the wall that need renovation, particular projects that need to be finished,” according to internal notes seen by the Washington Times.
“There are different projects that the chief of the Border Patrol has presented and the acting commissioner of CBP presented to me,” Mayorkas reportedly said, including “gaps” and “gates.”
CBP data suggest more than 170,000 migrants were taken into custody at the border last month, the highest monthly total since at least 2006.
