Sen. James Lankford told Newsmax that 70,000 people, mostly from adversaries of the United States, have been stopped at the border over the last two years.
Appearing Wednesday on "Eric Bolling The Balance," the Oklahoma Republican said that border patrol is stopping a record number of "special interest aliens" from hostile countries like Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria.
These migrants have "checked in not at a port of entry. They've been caught running between the ports of entry, caught by border patrol," Lankford explained. "But the Biden [administration] policy is just fingerprinting them and then releasing them into the country awaiting their asylum hearing.
"So, we have 70,000 people, we have no idea who they are. We don't know their criminal background check. They're in the country somewhere because the Biden team ... forced the border patrol to them go."
The Daily Mail noted that the special interest aliens include 6,386 Afghan nationals, a country under control by the Taliban, and 659 Iranian and Syrian nationals, two countries that back terrorist groups like Hamas.
Another 13,624 people from Uzbekistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan, have also attempted to enter the U.S. from its southern border with Mexico.
It comes as the broader border crisis continues to build.
There were an estimated 210,000 border apprehensions last month, the third-highest number on record. In addition, there have already been more total apprehensions in 2023 than in 2022 — which itself was a record.
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Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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