(The Center Square) – More than 700 Iranian nationals who illegally entered the U.S. were released into the country by the Biden administration, according to data The Center Square obtained Sunday from a Border Patrol agent.
According to the data, from fiscal years 2021 through 2024, Border Patrol agents apprehended 1,504 Iranian nationals who illegally entered the U.S. between ports of entry nationwide. Every year, the numbers increased exponentially.
They include 48 Iranian illegal border crossers apprehended in fiscal 2021; 197 apprehended in 2022; 462 apprehended in 2023; and 797 apprehended in 2024.
Among those apprehended, 729 Iranians were released into the U.S. under the Biden administration. Throughout the administration, the number of Iranians that were released into the U.S. also increased every year.
In 2021, 12 Iranian illegal border crossers were released into the U.S.; in 2022, 40 were released into the U.S.; in 2023, 229 were released into the U.S.; in 2024, 448 were released into the U.S., according to data exclusively obtained by The Center Square. The agent provided the information on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The Center Square obtained the data after President Donald Trump authorized the use of American-built B2 bombers to strike three nuclear facilities in Iran late Saturday.
The data excludes Iranians apprehended at ports of entry and those who illegally entered the U.S. as gotaways. Gotways is the official term used to describe foreign nationals who illegally enter between ports of entry to intentionally evade capture. More than two million gotaways were reported under the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.
Throughout the Biden administration, The Center Square received information from Border Patrol agents that wasn’t made public by U.S. Customs and Border Protection related to apprehensions and gotaways.
Under the Trump administration, data on how many Iranian nationals were encountered or apprehended so far this year has also not been made public, according to official CBP data.
CBP officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday about the number of Iranians apprehended or encountered under the Trump administration. Nor did it respond to questions about how many Iranian nationals were identified as “special interest aliens” or as known or suspected terrorists (KSTs). SIA information hasn’t been published by any administration, including under the first Trump administration. A bill filed in Congress last year would require federal reporting of the data, The Center Square reported.
To date, no official in the Biden or Trump administration can confirm how many Iranians have illegally entered the U.S. as gotaways. One Iranian gotaway with ties to terrorism was apprehended in Buffalo, New York, by U.S. federal agents, The Center Square reported.
U.S. officials are under heightened alert in light of numerous Iranians already arrested or indicted for material support for terrorism in just the last few months, The Center Square reported.
Under the Biden administration, the greatest number of KSTs were apprehended in U.S. history: 1,903, The Center Square first reported.
The majority, 64%, totaling 1,216, were apprehended at the northern border coming from Canada between fiscal years 2021-2024, according to CBP data.
A record 687 KSTs were reported at the southwest border over the same time period.
Last September, former President Joe Biden extended a 2001-era national emergency due to increased terrorist threats, including Islamic terrorist threats, The Center Square reported.
This was after hundreds of illegal border crossers with ties to the Islamic terrorist group ISIS were released into the country by the Biden administration or evaded capture with ties to an alleged ISIS smuggling ring.
Border czar Tom Homan has long warned that Biden administration policies created the greatest national security threat since 9/11, The Center Square reported. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, an avid supporter of Trump’s targeted attack of Iran, told The Center Square that Americans “are at a greater risk for a major terrorist attack than we have been at any point since Sept. 11, 2001” because of Biden administration policies.
Cruz said for years that “Iran has declared a jihad demanding that terrorists murder Americans. Hamas has declared a jihad demanding that terrorists murder Americans. Hezbollah has declared a jihad demanding that terrorists murder Americans. ‘Palestinian Islamic Jihad,’ true to their name, has declared a jihad demanding that terrorists murder Americans.”
The only response, he argues, was for President Trump to take action to protect Americans, including securing US borders and targeting terrorist organizations that have already killed U.S. servicemembers and are committed to killing Americans.
