Afghan national on FBI terror list nabbed trying to cross border with migrants

An Afghan national on the FBI’s terror watchlist was busted crossing into the US illegally along with a group of migrants last week.

The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, was nabbed infiltrating the southern border Wednesday near Otay Mesa in San Diego, Calif., sources with US Customs and Border Protection told Fox News.

After the Afghan national was apprehended, a fingerprint scan revealed he was in the Terrorist Screening Database, triggering an investigation by the FBI.

The man’s arrest is the latest such troubling case; the CBP reported in March that at least 69 non-US citizens on the FBI’s terror watchlist have been caught trying to illegally enter the US through the southern border since October.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), who represents the district where the latest arrest occurred, claimed such recent cases are a direct result of the Biden administration’s failure to crack down on illegal border crossings.

“Biden’s open borders aren’t just a gateway to five million illegals, record human and child trafficking and the deadliest drug crisis in our history,” Issa said in a statement. “Biden’s reckless policy is also an open invitation to even the most wanted terrorists in the world to come to America.

“They know they’ll never have to leave. The nation knows what’s going on and this president has only begun to be held accountable for what he has done,” he added.

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment on Wednesday’s arrest.

With more than 70 non-US citizens on the FBI’s terror watchlist apprehended so far during CBP’s latest fiscal year, 2023 will likely surpass last year’s total arrests of 98.

The agency’s fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

During CBP’s 2021 fiscal year, there were a total of just 15 such apprehensions at the US southern border.

The latest arrest came just a day before the end of Title 42, the Trump-era emergency policy that allowed border agents to more easily expel migrants from certain countries during the pandemic.

With Title 42 over, thousands of migrants have rushed to the border in hopes of seeking asylum in the US, and while the volume is currently lower than previously predicted, several areas are seeing chaotic situations.

Immigration advocates have described the situation as a crisis, with many migrants living in trash-strewn encampments along the US-Mexico border, including in California.

In Texas, the state’s National Guard was deployed in full force to hold off dozens of groups from attempting to enter the country illegally through the Rio Grande.