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Info from the United States Department of Homeland Security: MYTH/FACT: Known and Suspected Terrorists/Special Interest Aliens

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Image: DHS
Release Date:
January 7, 2019

In recent days, the terms “Special Interests Aliens” (SIAs) and “Known and Suspected Terrorists” (KSTs) have become more frequently used as part of discussions about the federal budget and border security.  These terms are not synonymous nor interchangeable, but are two separate terms that are commonly used in the national security community to describe different types of potential threats.  These are generally well understood terms that are, unfortunately, being misunderstood or mischaracterized as part of the current shutdown debate.

The facts are clear

There are thousands of individuals on the terrorist watchlist that traveled through our Hemisphere last year alone, and we work very hard to keep these individuals from traveling on illicit pathways to our country.

We work with foreign partners to block many of these individuals and prevent them from entering the United States. But effective border security is our last line of defense.

The threat is real. The number of terror-watchlisted individuals encountered at our Southern Border has increased over the last two years. The exact number is sensitive and details about these cases are extremely sensitive. But I am sure all Americans would agree that even one terrorist reaching our borders is one too many.

Overall, we stop on average 10 individuals on the terrorist watchlist per day from traveling to or entering the United States—and more than 3,700 in Fiscal Year 2017. Most of these individuals are trying to enter the U.S. by air, but we must also be focused on stopping those who try to get in by land.

Additionally, last year at our Southern Border, DHS encountered more than 3,000 “special interest aliens”—individuals with suspicious travel patterns who may pose a national security risk—not to mention the many criminals, smugglers, traffickers, and other threat actors who try to exploit our borders.

What is a Special Interest Alien?

Generally, an SIA is a non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests.  Often such individuals or groups are employing travel patterns known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism.  DHS analysis includes an examination of travel patterns, points of origin, and/or travel segments that are tied to current assessments of national and international threat environments.

This does not mean that all SIAs are “terrorists,” but rather that the travel and behavior of such individuals indicates a possible nexus to nefarious activity (including terrorism) and, at a minimum, provides indicators that necessitate heightened screening and further investigation.  The term SIA does not indicate any specific derogatory information about the individual – and DHS has never indicated that the SIA designation means more than that.

This term isn’t new and neither is the threat from SIAs. In 2016, Secretary Johnson ordered that DHS form a “multi-DHS Component SIA Joint Action Group” to drive efforts to “counter the threats posed by the smuggling of SIAs.” Just this month, the House Homeland Security Committee released a report outlining the threat posed by SIAs, as well as unknown and other potentially dangerous individuals, traveling to the United States using illicit pathways.  The report can be found here: https://republicans-homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/FINAL-SIA-REPORT.pdf

What is a Known or Suspected Terrorist?

KST is a term commonly used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

First, a “known terrorist” is an individual who has been (a) arrested, charged by information, indicted for, or convicted of a crime related to terrorism and/or terrorist activities by U.S. Government or foreign government authorities; or (b) identified as a terrorist or a member of a terrorist organization pursuant to statute, Executive Order, or international legal obligation pursuant to a United Nations Security Council Resolution.

Second, a “suspected terrorist” is an individual who is reasonably suspected to be engaging in, has engaged in, or intends to engage in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism and/or terrorist activities.

The use of KST is generally accepted to refer to someone for whom we have a reasonable suspicion to believe that they have or are likely to be engaged in terrorist activity, as that term is defined in U.S. law.

Why are these confused publicly?

In a document released by the White House, on Friday January 4, 2019, the White House, using data compiled by the Department of Homeland Security, mentioned a number of KSTs who were prevented from traveling to or entering the United States.

The presentation stated that “3,755 known or suspected terrorists were prevented from traveling to or entering the United States by DHS (FY17).” This statistic has been used repeatedly by the Department and the Administration (e.g. “CBP prevents an average of 10 individuals on the terrorist watchlist per day from traveling to or entering the United States”). The majority of such individuals are attempting to travel to the United States by air, but others are encountered arriving by land and through maritime routes—and have been encountered attempting to enter the country through the Southern Border.

A number that was not included in the presentation, yet has recently been used by Administration officials is Friday: “DHS encountered more than 3,000 Special Interest Aliens last year at the Southern Border.” These KST and SIA figures are not the same and should not be conflated.

Despite what some media has reported, SIAs are not simply people who “traveled from a country that had terrorism.”  The targeting information and analysis done by DHS is more sophisticated and incorporates a number of factors.  Often these are individuals who have obtained false documents, or used smugglers to evade security across multiple countries.  In addition, some have engaged in criminal activity that could pose a danger to the United States, and some are found to have links to terrorism after additional investigative work and analysis by CBP personnel.

The bottom line is that significant numbers of threat actors have attempted, and continue to attempt, to enter the United States surreptitiously and without authority.  DHS and other national security agencies remain concerned about the volume of terrorist-watchlisted individuals, SIAs, convicted criminals, gang members, and others who pose a threat to the homeland, attempting to enter the United States. And we will take all appropriate action to legally block their entry.

Keywords:
CBP
Last Published Date: January 7, 2019 Here

Fast Fact: Suspected Migrant-Terrorists Encountered and Apprehended at Our Southern Border

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Image: Conservativ Review

Have Terrorists Crossed Our Border?

An initial count of suspected terrorists encountered en route and at the U.S. Southwest Border Since 2001

By Todd Bensman on November 26, 2018

“From intelligence community sources with access to protected government information, the Center for Immigration Studies has learned that at least 100 migrants from “countries of interest”,3 encountered between 2012 and 2017 at or en route to the southern border, matched the U.S. terrorism “watch lists” known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE), or the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). The number of such law enforcement land border encounters with such watch-listed migrants has risen drastically each year after 2012, according to the information, which is deemed credible but could not be independently corroborated.” Here, from CIS.org.

See also:

Central American Countries Are Helping Middle Easterners Illegally Enter The United States

Panama and Costa Rica are chokepoints on the migrant trail followed by people from other continents seeking easier U.S. entry through our porous border with Mexico.

“Qoordheen had been smuggled from Zambia to Brazil, passed through Panama, and was making his way north through Costa Rica when the Americans had him arrested here, 20 miles inside Costa Rica, according to an American intelligence official with knowledge of the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.”

Here.

Georgia’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board: ‘An Example of What Not to Do’: Where Immigration Law Is Enforced – Usually Not Enforced – by Political Appointees Granted the Power of Courts

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Image: Bensbiltong.com
Originally published in Pew’s Stateline, the below is from the influential Governing Magazine” From our eight years of personal experience with the IERB, we will have plenty to add soon, but a “parody of a Kangaroo Court” is a good start.

An Example of What Not to Do’: The State Where Immigration Law Is Enforced by Political Appointees Granted the Power of Courts

BY | JANUARY 4, 2019 AT 7:14 AM

Over the past few years, statehouses around the country have tried to rein in cities deemed too friendly to undocumented immigrants. But Georgia is the only state that’s created an independent board with one specific mission: Punishing cities that aren’t doing enough to crack down on illegal immigration.

Typically, that responsibility falls to state attorneys general. But in Georgia, residents can file a complaint against any city or county they judge to be breaking state immigration law.

Until a recent case against the small liberal town of Decatur, though, all but one of the complaints had come from one private citizen, an avowed anti-illegal immigration activist who’s made this his life’s calling.

Then the lieutenant governor, Republican Casey Cagle, filed a complaint accusing Decatur of violating state immigration law last year as he was running for governor. And on Facebook, he threatened to yank its state funding.

“Liberal politicians in the City of Decatur are trying to put the interests of criminal illegal aliens ahead of our safety — and I will not allow it!” Cagle wrote. (He did not respond to repeated requests from Stateline for comment.)

Few locals have heard of it, but Georgia’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board was created seven years ago, when the state passed one of the nation’s strictest immigration laws. Trying to keep track of the legal comings and goings of the IERB, as the board is known, can be dizzying.

Most of its members are not attorneys or immigration experts. All are volunteers — and all are political appointees, which in this red state, makes it a majority Republican board.

And while technically not a court, the board has been given many of the powers of a court: It investigates alleged wrongdoing, subpoenas witnesses and hears testimony.

The board has the power to recommend sanctions against municipalities found to be in the wrong — and ultimately, withhold millions in state funding from them as punishment.

So far, though, it has levied just one lasting fine, for $1,000 against Atlanta. A handful of small cities, though, have been forced to spend time and money defending themselves against accusations.

Two of the immigration board members refused to step down years after their terms ended, and did so only in 2018, when they were sued by a Decatur resident and accused of violating Georgia law.

“The Georgia board is an example of what not to do, rather than a model for something effective,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a national research and advocacy group that favors limited immigration to the United States.

“It’s troubling,” Vaughan said, “to have that authority go to a politically appointed group that lacks expertise in the subject matter.”

The city of Decatur has filed two lawsuits against the board, saying it has violated public meetings and public records laws; the Georgia First Amendment Foundation and the Southern Poverty Law Center joined one of the suits in December. (Under James Balli’s tenure as chair, he has made efforts to make the board more transparent, including releasing records to a reporter.)

Balli, said it is just complying with state immigration law in its work, and until that law is changed, it’ll continue with its charge.

The 2011 law the board is focused on, HB 87, permits law enforcement officers to stop anyone they deem to be “suspicious” and ask for their papers. The law also requires cities and counties, and many businesses, to use E-Verify to ensure workers are in the country legally; and punishes those who use fake identification to get work.

“The goal is compliance, not punishment,” Balli said.

“We’re not anti-immigration,” Balli said, adding that his grandmother was an immigrant from Mexico. “We don’t want that to be the picture of this board.”

Atlanta’s Hippie Cousin

Decatur’s been described as a speck of blue in a sea of red, and that is true — up to a point. There have always been specks of blue in Georgia, and the state is increasingly trending purple. In November, Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp in the race for governor.

But Decatur, as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution puts it, is “renowned as a bastion of Southern liberalism.” It’s Atlanta’s hippie cousin — population 23,800 — 4 square miles of bungalows, yoga studios and farm-to-table fare. In 2016, 86 percent of voters here cast their lot with Hillary Clinton.

Both Decatur and its next-door neighbor Atlanta issued directives in 2017 ordering local police not to detain immigrants, barring a court order. Decatur doesn’t even have a jail — and has few immigrants.

But for the past year, it is Decatur, not Atlanta, that has been in battle with the state, fighting accusations that it is a sanctuary city.

And even though the IERB has yet to yank state funding in any of the cases it’s heard, Decatur officials say they worry the city could lose millions in funding if the board tried to take action.

‘Kangaroo Court’

Many critics of the board, who fall on both sides of the immigration battle, have said it should be disbanded.

“It’s a court that operates in very strange, mostly nontransparent ways and yet has a tremendous amount of power,” said Naomi Tsu, who oversees the legal and advocacy work on behalf of immigrants in the Deep South for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. The center has profiled the IERB on its “Hatewatch” blog.

Then there’s Marietta, Georgia, resident D.A. King, who’s filed 20 of the 22 complaints that have come before the board. He called the IERB a “parody of a kangaroo court.”

King, a Detroit native, describes himself as a nationalist “along the lines of a George Washington,” but says that he’s not a white supremacist. Nor is he against legal immigration. “My adopted sister is from Korea,” he said.

“I’m trying to educate people about immigration. It’s about the law and what’s good for America and Americans.” Read the rest of the report here.

Fast Fact: Research: Each new illegal alien costs $82,191, $164B over decade

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Image: Twitter

Group says each new illegal immigrant costs $82,191, $164B over decade

Stopping just a tiny percentage of illegal immigrants surging into the United States would pay for President Trump’s wall by eliminating the lifetime taxpayer costs provided to those aliens, according to a detailed financial analysis.

The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for lower levels of immigration, said that the border wall between Mexico and the United States would only have to stop 3 percent to 4 percent of potential illegal crossers, or about 60,000 of an estimated 2 million over the next decade, to pay for Trump’s $5 billion request.

The analysis highlights the huge price of illegal immigration and what it takes to protect the border, house, educate, and feed new immigrants, and the lifetime of having some 11 million on various welfare programs.

“Camarota said that about 200,000 more illegal immigrants successfully cross the border yearly, a lifetime cost of $16.4 billion added each year.” Here, from the Washington Examiner

Georgia state Rep Jesse Petrea to introduce anti-sanctuary, criminal alien tracking legislation: “…it is our common sense duty to report crimes to ICE”

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Rep. Jesse Petrea. Image: Georgia General Assembly

 

“Currently in Georgia prisons are some 1,360 criminal aliens. These are criminals convicted of serious crimes. For example, 193 for child molestation, 65 for aggravated child molestation, 134 for murder, 103 for armed robbery, 98 for rape, 42 for statutory rape, 61 for kidnapping, 45 for manslaughter and 18 for vehicular homicide. All 1,360 of these individuals had at least one Georgia victim. All of these 1,360 crimes were avoidable.”

 

The below is a column published in the Savannah Morning News/SavannahNow.com from Georgia state Rep Jesse Petrea on his “Georgia Illegal Immigration Protection and Public Safety Act.”

Lawmakers Look To “Create a Better Georgia”

January 12, 2019

Rep Jesse Petrea

On Monday, Jan. 14, we will convene the 2019 Georgia legislative session in Atlanta. This year I have multiple bills I am working on to create a better Georgia. Today, I would like to explain my two legislative priorities for 2019.

First, I will attempt again to accomplish something that I have sponsored since my first term in the legislature. I have pre-filed House Bill 7 which would eliminate the state income tax on military retirement income. This is the right thing to do for the men and women who protect this country with a career of military service. Never in our history has a smaller percentage of veterans protected so many in our country.

Further, it will level the field to attract disciplined and skilled men and women to live and work in Georgia. Our industries and businesses desperately need this workforce. Many veterans retire at 40 to 50 years of age and are ready for a new career. They have the skills, discipline and work ethic that our employers so desperately need. However, currently, our neighboring states offer them huge cost savings. In Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina, these veterans can save 5.75 percent of their income because these states do not tax this income as we do in Georgia.

Since being elected, I have made public safety my primary focus. So this year my second priority is to sponsor the Georgia Illegal Immigration Protection and Public Safety Act. Currently in Georgia prisons are some 1,360 criminal aliens. These are criminals convicted of serious crimes. For example, 193 for child molestation, 65 for aggravated child molestation, 134 for murder, 103 for armed robbery, 98 for rape, 42 for statutory rape, 61 for kidnapping, 45 for manslaughter and 18 for vehicular homicide. All 1,360 of these individuals had at least one Georgia victim. All of these 1,360 crimes were avoidable. Had our federal government done its job, none of these illegal immigrants would have been present to commit these crimes.

My bill does the following:… read the rest here.

 

Non-Citizens Committed a Disproportionate Share of Federal Crimes, 2011-16 21% of those convicted of non-immigration crimes were non-citizens — 2.5 times their share of the population

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Image: CIS.org

Non-Citizens Committed a Disproportionate Share of Federal Crimes, 2011-16

21% of those convicted of non-immigration crimes were non-citizens — 2.5 times their share of the population

Because it is easier to make an immigration case, federal prosecutors sometimes charge illegal immigrants only with immigration violations, even when they have committed serious non-immigration crimes. Once convicted, an immigrant will still normally serve some time and then be deported, which is often seen by prosecutors as good enough. This, of course, does not happen with citizens. But because of this, conviction data for non-immigration crimes will tend to understate the level of criminal activity among non-citizens.

Among the findings of the new data:

Areas where non-citizens account for a much larger share of convictions than their 8.4 percent share of the adult population include:

  • 42.4 percent of kidnapping convictions;
  • 31.5 percent of drug convictions;
  • 22.9 percent of money laundering convictions;
  • 13.4 percent of administration of justice offenses (e.g. witness tampering, obstruction, and contempt);
  • 17.8 percent of economic crimes (e.g. larceny, embezzlement, and fraud);
  • 13 percent of other convictions (e.g. bribery, civil rights, environmental, and prison offenses); and
  • 12.8 percent of auto thefts.

Areas where non-citizens account for a share of convictions roughly equal to their share of the adult population include:

  • 9.6 percent of assaults;
  • 8.9 percent of homicides; and
  • 7.5 percent of firearm crimes.

Areas where non-citizens account for a share of convictions lower than their share of the adult population include:

  • 4.1 percent of sex crimes;
  • 3.3 percent of robberies;
  • 4.5 percent of arsons; and
  • 0 percent of burglaries.

Read it here from CIS.org 

National security – Washington Post: Record number of migrant families arrested while crossing U.S. border in December

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Image: Liberty Headlines

Washington Post

January 9, 2019

Nick Miroff

Record number of migrant families arrested while crossing U.S. border in December

A busy December set another record for the number of migrant parents and children taken into custody, as U.S. border agents arrested 27,518 members of “family units,” according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics released Wednesday.

Overall, authorities detained 60,782 migrants attempting to enter the United States without authorization. It marked the third consecutive month that the figure — the most widely used barometer of border trends — topped 60,000, remaining near the highest levels of the Trump presidency.

President Trump cited the soaring numbers during a prime-time address Tuesday, urging Democrats to approve his $5.7 billion border wall plan, calling the arrival of so many families a “crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul.”

In December, U.S. agents struggled to cope with the family surge, as Border Patrol holding cells filled with youngsters and became miserably crowded and unhealthy. Two Guatemalan children died after being taken into custody, prompting Department of Homeland Security officials to declare a “humanitarian and national security crisis.”

With a partial government shutdown over Trump’s wall demands grinding on, Homeland Security officials have proposed $800 million in emergency funding to improve conditions for migrant families in custody, including child-appropriate processing centers, more doctors and better food.

The December data, typically published online by Customs and Border Protection, was distributed Wednesday by DHS, which noted in a news release that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was unable to publish the figures on its website “due to a lapse in funding.”…read more here.

Georgia’s Cobb County Sheriff, Neil Warren, writes letter supporting a border wall

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 Joins a growing group of sheriffs nationwide expressing support for action on illegal border crossings

Cobb County, Georgia Sheriff Neil Warren. Image: CobbSheriff office.

Longtime Cobb County, Georgia Sheriff Neil Warren has made public a letter to President Trump expressing his support for a border wall.

“As one of more than 3,000 sheriffs across this nation, I am painfully aware of the continuing loss of the innocent American lives and the escalating numbers of overdoses and drug-related deaths caused by members of Congress refusing to fund border security initiatives,” Warren wrote in his Monday letter. “The intentional indifference of those who are more interested in their personal political agenda than our public safety needs undermines law enforcement’s ability to fulfill our promise to keep our citizens, communities and nation safe” goes Warren’s letter, in part.

Sheriff Warren has served in his position since 2004 and was the first sheriff in Georgia to take advantage of the federal 287(g) program that expands the local law enforcement’s authority to help enforce immigration law.

Regarded as a hero to pro-enforcement Americans, Warren has been attacked by the corporate-funded anti-borders groups in the state for more than a decade. Estimates are that Georgia taxpayers spend approximately $2.5 billion annually on illegal immigration.

According to the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders and more than the border state of Arizona. Cobb County is ranked number three in county populations of illegal aliens in the state.

Warren’s complete letter can be read here.

Warren joins more than thirty other sheriffs nationwide who have penned similar letters of support for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

 

Georgia’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board – timeline of term overstays of board members IERB

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Image: Bilstabong

 

Immigration Enforcement Review Board (IERB) established in OCGA 50-36-3 (2011, HB87)

The seven original IERB members were appointed between July and Sept. 2, 2011.

State law is clear that members are limited to two terms of two years per term.

OCGA 50-36-3 (b) The Immigration Enforcement Review Board is established and shall consist of seven members. Three members shall be appointed by the Governor, two members shall be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, and two members shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. A chairperson shall be selected by a majority vote of the members. All matters before the board shall be determined by a majority vote of qualified board members. Members shall be appointed for terms of two years and shall continue to hold such position until their successors are duly appointed and qualified. A member may be reappointed to an additional term. If a vacancy occurs in the membership of the board, the appropriate appointing party shall appoint a successor for the remainder of the unexpired term and until a successor is appointed and qualified.

Appointed by Gov. Deal: Phil Kent, Shawn Hanley and Ben Vinson
Appointed by Lt. Gov Cagle: Boyd Austin, Mike Yeager
Appointed by Speaker Ralston: Robert Mumford, Terry Clark.

With the end of the first term, original members still on the IERB should have been reappointed in July and Sept. 2013 – with the end of that term being July/Sept. 2015. With the exception of the Speaker’s office on the reappointment of Terry Clark, it appears that none of the three offices that made the original appointments can produce any paperwork reflecting any reappointments. After a request for public records, Cagle’s office claimed exclusion from open records laws due to being part of the legislature.

Lt. Governor is an executive branch office under the state constitution.

Without being legally reappointed and without authority, members Kent, Hanley, Vinson, Yeager and Clark served well beyond the end of the four year limitation. As of December 29, 2018 Clark is still serving.

Ben Vinson resigned IERB sometime in June of July, 2017 after being appointed to the State Board of worker’s Compensation by Gov. Deal. In violation of state law, Vinson was active as IERB Chair from Sept. 2015 to the date of his resignation.

Shawn Hanley and Phil Kent both resigned in August 2018 when the term limit violation was made public.

In the same report linked above, it looks like the AG is staying far away from the entire matter.

IERB member John Kennedy was appointed in January 2013 after Robert Mumford resigned to become a judge. Kennedy won election to the state senate and James Balli was appointed to replace him by Speaker Ralston in Feb. 2014. The appointment letter specifically states Balli’s appointment would end in July 2015 or “until a successor is duly appointed.”

That would mean Balli’s two term limit would end in July 2017 – if he was duly reappointed. Public records of any such reappointment have not been produced.

* It could be that Balli will claim he was appointed to finish Kennedy’s term and could lawfully serve two terms of his own. I assert that argument is contrary to the language and intent of OCGA 50-36-3.

With this line of thinking: Mumford’s first term ended in Sept. 2013, Kennedy would have finished that term in 2015, but was replaced by Balli who was appointed in Feb 2014. Again, the Balli appointment letter states his term ends in 2015 or until a lawful reappointment or a successor appointment.

Reappointment of Balli would expire in 2017 – if he was duly reappointed.

Regardless of the question on Balli’s reappointment or his merely finishing another member’s term, because of the fact that that members Kent, Vinson, Hanley and Clark served and voted without authority after Sept. 2015, it is my position that any actions taken after Sept. 2015, including sanctions, complaint dismissals and board votes were done in violation of state law and are thereby null and void.