The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center told Congress that policies under the Biden administration allowed thousands of known or suspected terrorists to enter the United States, creating a persistent and unresolved national security threat.
The Director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Thursday told Congress that the Biden administration failed to stop over 18,000 known or suspected terrorists from entering the United States. That number is staggering and represents a clear breakdown in border security and enforcement. Republicans in Congress are using the testimony to argue that lax policies exposed the country to unnecessary risk.
Kent, while testifying, also contrasted current dangers with prior gains, saying his agency “made significant progress under President Trump’s leadership” and that “the jihadis of ISIS and al-Qaeda on the run in Iraq and Syria.” He used that comparison to underline how policy choices matter when it comes to keeping America safe. The point was blunt: progress can be reversed when borders are unmanaged.
He warned of ongoing consequences, stating there is still “a persistent threat from the individuals that were allowed into this country by the previous administration.” That phrase points directly at policy decisions that let people enter without full vetting. From a Republican perspective, this is proof that open-border practices aren’t just politics, they are liabilities.
Kent was direct about what keeps him up at night: the “number one threat that we have right now…is the fact that we don’t know who came into our country in the last four years of Biden’s open border orders.” That admission is damning on its face and hard to ignore. When the nation’s top counterterrorism official says unknown entrants are the top risk, lawmakers should act fast.
The director explained that his agency “has identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country” and that “these are individuals who, under normal circumstances, would never be allowed to enter our country because of their ties to jihad groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda.” He also accused the administration of going further, saying it “facilitated their entry into the country.” Those are not soft accusations — they are direct charges about policy and practice.
The numbers Kent referenced came from watchlists and databases used to track suspicious or dangerous actors. Customs and Border Protection data shows a sharp increase in encounters with people on the Terrorist Screening Dataset, a development that validates the concern. Border agents and lawmakers are now wrestling with how to tighten screening and close legal loopholes that allowed these gaps.
“Under the Biden-Harris administration, the greatest number of individuals identified on the U.S. Terrorist Watchlist have been caught at the northern border.” That line raises uncomfortable questions about the full scope of the problem and where enforcement failed. Northern ports of entry, in particular, have seen unusual spikes that demand explanation and corrective action.
“Since fiscal 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol agents have apprehended 1,746 known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) nationwide, the greatest number in U.S. history.” “The majority, 1,089, were reported at the northern border attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada. They were primarily caught by CBP agents at ports of entry, as The Center Square has previously reported.” Those figures are hard to dismiss and show a pattern that requires policy fixes.
“In fiscal 2023, 736 KSTs were caught attempting to enter the U.S., the highest on record for a single year. The majority, 487, or 66%, were apprehended at the northern border, by American, not Canadian authorities, The Center Square first reported. This fiscal year through July, 283 KSTs were apprehended at the northern border compared to 136 at the southwest border, according to CBP data last updated Aug. 16.” Those numbers make the national security case stark and immediate.
“KSTs are identified through the U.S. Terrorist Screening Dataset, which contains sensitive information on terrorist identities and those “who represent a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watchlisted individuals,” CBP explains.” That technical detail matters because it shows these are not vague suspicions but intelligence-based identifications. If the dataset flags someone, the system should work to stop their entry, not enable it.
