The U.S. Border Patrol has encountered 72,823 “special interest aliens” on America’s borders over the past two years—many from the Middle East—according to an exclusive Fox News report.  

A special interest alien is a government term used to refer to an illegal alien from a nation that either promotes terrorist activity, harbors terrorists, or poses a possible security threat to the U.S. 

Data obtained by Fox and “confirmed by multiple CBP [Customs and Border Protection] sources … which reflects apprehensions between ports of entry between Oct. 2021 and Oct. 2023, shows that agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan in that period, as well as 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran and 538 from Syria,” according to the outlet.  

Additionally, in the last two years, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reports that Border Patrol agents have encountered 139 illegal aliens from Yemen, 123 from Iraq, 164 from Lebanon, 1,613 from Pakistan, 15,594 from Mauritania, 13,624 from Uzbekistan, and 30,830 from Turkey.  

“Border Patrol sources tell me they have extreme concerns about who is coming into the country because they have little to no way of vetting people from these special interest countries,” Melugin wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday.  

“I’m told unless [illegal aliens] have committed a crime previously in the U.S., or they are on some sort of federal watchlist, there’s no way to know who they are because most of their home countries don’t share data/records with the U.S., so there is nothing to match a name to when BP agents run fingerprints,” Melugin said.  

The numbers Melugin reports do not include those encountered at ports of entry or “gotaways” who have successfully evaded Customs and Border Protection.  

Responding to Melugin’s report, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., asked in an X post, “If these individuals were caught, how many got away?” 

A new report from the House Judiciary Committee found that “more than 1.7 million known ‘gotaways’” have successfully evaded Border Patrol agents and entered the country during the first 26 months of the Biden administration.  

News of the “special interest aliens” who have been encountered on America’s borders comes just a few days after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, killing hundreds, including Americans. Victoria Coates, Heritage Foundation’s vice president of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, says Iran no doubt provided Hamas with resources to launch the missile and ground attacks on Israel. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news and commentary outlet.)

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