In a recent joint hearing, lawmakers scrutinized the alarming travel patterns of individuals linked to foreign terrorist organizations and their attempts to cross U.S. borders. The session highlighted a significant surge in border encounters, with over 10.1 million illegal entries recorded during the Biden administration, including more than 8.2 million at the southwest border alone.

The hearing revealed that approximately 2 million individuals are estimated to have evaded capture by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, raising concerns about national security. A particularly troubling statistic presented was that 382 individuals on the terror watch list attempted to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border from fiscal year 2021 to the present, a stark increase from just 11 apprehensions between 2017 and 2020.

Lawmakers expressed deep concern over the implications of these figures, questioning how many of the nearly 2 million \"gotaways\" might also be on the terror watch list. The discussions underscored the urgent need for enhanced border security measures and a reevaluation of current immigration policies to address the unprecedented challenges facing the nation.