Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan issued a stark warning last week regarding the significant threat to U.S. national security due to the unprecedented number of illegal aliens entering the United States. Homan made these comments during a Fox News interview, highlighting how President Joe Biden’s open border policies have exacerbated the problem.
“Look, I said for a long time, something is coming,” Homan stated, predicting that an attack was likely imminent. “No one is going to convince me that a single person off the watchlist hasn’t entered this country and not been apprehended. Just in the southern border alone, we are at 370 or so already.”
He raised concerns about the vast areas of the U.S.-Mexico border that lack active monitoring through advanced technology like drones and sensors.
“We do not know how many thousands of people have crossed in areas where we cannot track them,” he warned. “It’s probably as big as a 1.6 [million] known gotaways …”
WATCH: Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan on the security risk that the millions of known gotaways that have flooded across the border pose: "Something is coming."
Homan adds that that there could be just as many unknown gotaways.
Homan: "Look, I said for a long time,… pic.twitter.com/Wl9X4UWBtA
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) June 2, 2024
There have been multiple instances where illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist have successfully entered the U.S. In April, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) apprehended an Afghan illegal alien on the FBI’s terrorist watch list after reports revealed that border officials had released him nearly a year earlier. Mohammad Kharwin, 48, who entered the U.S. illegally through the southern border, was identified as a member of Hezb-e-Islami, or HIG, a political and paramilitary group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
Hezb-e-Islami, known for its anti-Western stance, aims to replace the Western-backed Afghan Government with an Islamic state rooted in sharia. U.S. officials have reported that this group was responsible for killing multiple American soldiers in Afghanistan between 2013 and 2015.
However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) disputed NBC News’ report that Kharwin was on the terrorist watchlist when he entered the U.S., claiming there was “not conclusive information” to match him to the list. Despite his arrest, Kharwin was released again by an immigration judge from the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, who was unaware of his terrorist ties. He paid a $12,000 bond and faced no restrictions on his movements within the U.S.
This case follows another alarming incident involving an Islamic terrorist with al-Shabaab who roamed the U.S. freely for nearly a year. In March 2023, federal authorities caught a terrorist illegally crossing the southern border and subsequently released him into the country. It wasn’t until mid-January 2024 that the Terrorist Screening Center identified him as a “confirmed member of al-Shabaab.” The terrorist was later apprehended in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 20.
Al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization named by the U.S. State Department in March 2008, pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda in 2012. According to the Counter-Terrorism Guide for the Director of National Intelligence, “Since 2014, al-Shabaab has killed more US citizens than any other al Qa’ida affiliate and, as of 2022, was its wealthiest component.”
Homan’s warnings underscore the pressing need for stringent border security measures to prevent further infiltration by individuals who pose serious threats to national security.