“Si, this one Amigo will get you across the Border Wall.”

The image shows a middle-aged Mexican man with a weathered face and mustache, dressed in denim overalls and a t-shirt, standing by a roadside stand filled with brightly colored pole vaulting poles. He is discussing a pole with a potential buyer. In the background, the border wall stretches across the scene, separating Mexico and the United States. The image captures the contrast between the vibrant poles and the stark border wall.

The Unseen Threat: Suspected Terror Ties at the Texas Border

Introduction: While the exact numbers of confirmed ISIS members apprehended at the Texas Southern Border remain classified and subject to ongoing investigation, public reports and official statements indicate a concerning trend: individuals with suspected ties to designated foreign terrorist organizations, including ISIS, are attempting to exploit vulnerabilities at the border. This presents a complex challenge for national security, requiring constant vigilance from federal and state authorities.

The Reality of Apprehensions: It’s important to understand that “catch” in this context often refers to individuals who are flagged by federal agencies, primarily U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the support of the FBI and other intelligence agencies. Texas, with its extensive southern border, is a major point of entry where these encounters occur.

• Growing Terrorist Watchlist Encounters: Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows a significant increase in encounters with individuals on the U.S. government’s Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) at the Southwest border, which includes the Texas sector. For instance, between Fiscal Year 2021 and May 2024, over 370 individuals on this watchlist were apprehended attempting to cross illegally. While not all TSDS matches are confirmed ISIS members, the watchlist includes individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism.
• ISIS-Affiliated Smuggling Networks: Federal authorities have identified human smuggling networks with confirmed links to ISIS operating globally, facilitating the movement of individuals towards the U.S. southern border. Reports in June 2024 indicated that over 400 individuals from Central Asia were identified as “subjects of concern” due to being brought by an ISIS-affiliated smuggling network. Approximately 150 of these individuals have been arrested and deported, demonstrating active efforts to disrupt these channels.
• Post-Entry Apprehensions: In some high-profile cases, individuals with suspected ISIS ties who initially crossed the southern border and were released into the U.S. (often due to vetting limitations at the moment of entry) have later been apprehended by federal law enforcement. A notable example from June 2024 involved eight individuals from Tajikistan with suspected ISIS connections who had entered the U.S. through the southern border in 2023 and early 2024. These individuals were later arrested by ICE in major U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles, following further intelligence gathering. This highlights that “catching” can occur both at the immediate border and through subsequent investigations.
• Domestic ISIS-Related Arrests in Texas: Beyond border encounters, Texas has seen arrests related to ISIS activity within the state. For example, in November 2024, a man in Houston was indicted for attempting to provide material support to ISIS, indicating ongoing efforts by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to neutralize threats originating or manifesting within Texas communities.

The Challenges and the “Lurking Dangers”: The nature of the threat lies in several key challenges:

• Vetting Limitations: Fully vetting every individual crossing a high-volume border is an immense task. Sometimes, derogatory intelligence about an individual’s terror ties emerges only after they have already entered the country, necessitating follow-up investigations and apprehensions.
• “Got-Aways”: Border Patrol has acknowledged a significant number of “got-aways”—individuals who evade apprehension after crossing the border. While there’s no way to definitively know how many of these individuals have terror ties, the existence of such a population remains a national security concern.
• Sophistication of Networks: ISIS and other terrorist organizations actively seek to exploit vulnerabilities, using sophisticated smuggling networks to facilitate the movement of their operatives or sympathizers.

Conclusion: While precise figures for ISIS members specifically apprehended by Texas authorities at the border are not released, it’s clear that the state’s southern border is a critical front in the ongoing effort to counter terrorism. Federal agencies, often in conjunction with Texas law enforcement, are actively working to identify, interdict, and apprehend individuals with suspected terror ties. The continuous nature of this threat, combined with the complexities of border security, underscores the importance of public awareness regarding these persistent dangers.