SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A new report from the Office of the Inspector General says San Diego Border Patrol agents failed to properly screen migrants for terrorism.
Agents were overwhelmed by the “huge” volume of “special interest aliens” in custody and told inspectors that trying to interview the foreign nationals within the time frame given by the FBI was “not sustainable.”
Border Patrol agents in San Diego didn’t consistently conduct and document interviews of the flagged migrants, the audit found.
In July 2023, during a surge of migrants at the San Diego border, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force asked Border Patrol agents to interview certain migrants. The FBI raised concerns that Central Asian smuggling networks might pose a national security threat to the United States.
“Agents told us there were too many aliens in custody matching (the task force’s) requests to interview before releasing them,” the Inspector General report says.
Alert delayed by 5 days
The audit said CBP’s Office of Intelligence issued a message requesting southern border agents interview certain migrants. Still, the message wasn’t given to San Diego agents until five days later, “potentially missing opportunities to identify aliens who posed a potential risk to national security and to collect information about smuggling networks.”
The Inspector General Found disparities in migrant screening. For instance, the Border Patrol in Yuma and El Centro had a process for enhanced screening of ‘special interest’ migrants, but Border Patrol San Diego Sector did not, the report said.
“As a result aliens from countries with links to terrorism entered at least one CBP region that did not provide additional screening.”
The FBI also asked Border Patrol agents to search some migrants’ phones and cross-reference their contacts with a list provided by the FBI related to a threat. The goal was to identify national security threats, but according to the Inspector General, the request appeared to catch agents off guard.
FBI flagged certain phone numbers
“A Border Patrol San Diego sector supervisor told us that in July 2023, when he learned about concerns related to migration, he reviewed his sector's alien encounter data and noticed it released thousands of aliens without prioritizing them for interviews and phone searches.“
The report gives agents credit for making one arrest after they found a migrant with a contact for someone flagged by the FBI. That foreign national was placed in long-term detention by ICE.
In total, the Inspector General makes three recommendations aimed at improving processes for flagging high-risk migrants.
The audit found that although Customs and Border Protection has an agency-wide list of countries with links to terrorism, it hasn’t updated the list since 2016.
'Significant ties to terrorism'
Last September, the former chief patrol agent for the San Diego sector testified that under the Biden administration, the number of special interest migrant arrests rose.
“In San Diego, we had an exponential increase in significant interest aliens. These are aliens with significant ties to terrorism,” Aaron Heitke told the Republican-led House Homeland Security Committee.
The veteran agent said before the Biden administration took over, there were 10-15 special interest migrants arrested in a year. He said in 2023, there were more than 100.
“At the time, I was told I could not release any information on this increase in SIAs or mention any of the arrests. The administration was trying to convince the public there was no threat at the border.”
The Border Patrol and CBP referred questions on the audit to the Department of Homeland Security.
In a statement, the agency said the United States now has the most secure border in American history thanks to the work of President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
“The Biden Administration manufactured an invasion of our country that pushed frontline resources past the breaking point—especially in San Diego,” A DHS spokesperson said.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, CBP is enforcing the law and stopping illegal crossings at historic levels, agents are no longer forced to operate under the conditions of the previous administration that put our country at risk.”
The union representing Border Patrol agents didn’t return a request for comment.
