Bill To Require Report On Terrorist Watch List

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., has introduced legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security to provide a monthly report to Congress on terrorist watch list encounters at the nation’s southern border.

Under the Biden administration, Daines said the country has seen historic numbers of individuals on the FBI’s terrorist watch list encountered at the southern border.

“Since Oct. 1, hundreds of individuals from Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria – all state sponsors of terror – have entered the United States through our southern border,” said Daines. “We need real policy changes at our wide-open southern border to prevent potential terrorists from putting Americans at risk. This is no longer just an immigration issue – this is a national security crisis.”

This legislation would require the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to report to Congress on the following:

•The number of individuals encountered that are on the terrorist screening database.

•Where they were encountered.

•Details on why the individual is on the watch list.

•Any ties each such individual has to a terrorist organization.

•Their nation of origin.

•Previous criminal convictions in the United States.

•How they traveled to the United States.

•Where they were detained; if they are still detained, if they’ve been deported, if they’ve been transferred to another agency and their known whereabouts if they have been released.

•If they’ve been released, how the determination was made that the individual does not present a danger to the United States.

•How many faulty hits have occurred.

•The total number of individuals added, rejected or removed from the terrorist screening database since the last report was submitted and the total number of individuals on the terrorist screening database as of the date of the report.