U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials warned lawmakers in a classified briefing Wednesday that they have apprehended terrorists trying to sneak across the southern border into the United States.
“They said some are coming from the Middle East, some from Turkey, and coming across the soft barrier,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said after the briefing.
Shelby could not say how many terrorists have been apprehended on the border between the United States and Mexico, but said the border officials “had statistics, actual numbers,” to back up their assessment.
Customs and Border Protection officials have reported publicly that they apprehended six known or suspected terrorists at ports of entry in the first half of 2018, but that figure leaves out those sneaking across the border. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was criticized earlier this year for saying the CPB stopped 3,700 terror suspects on the southern border, and later clarified that those numbers mostly reflect incidents at ports of entry, not along unguarded sections of the border.
Shelby characterized any soft border as “dangerous” and added, “We need any barriers and technology to stop them otherwise we have open borders and the country’s gone.”
Shelby arranged the classified briefing for all 17 lawmakers from the House and Senate who are tasked with coming up with a border security and spending deal by Feb. 15.
Shelby summoned top CBP officials, not political appointees, to make the case to lawmakers about what they need to secure the border. They said their preferred solution includes barriers or a wall, preferably the steel slat barriers President Trump has touted, with a price tag of $5.7 billion.
“I asked them about the steel slats and they said that is what they like,” Shelby said.
Democrats and Republicans are stalled on how much money , if any, should be provided for a wall.
