US Border apprehensions include citizens of terrorist or special interest countries

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), speaking at a conference on border issues, said 663 individuals arrested along the southwest border in 2010 were from countries designated as “special interest” or from countries known to have ties with terrorism.

“It’s not just that we’re seeing immigration across our southern border from countries like Mexico — people seeking to work and provide for their families,” said Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on homeland security and terrorism. “Indeed in the last year alone — where 445,000 individuals were detained at the southwest border — 59,000 came from countries other than Mexico.

“These included 663 individuals from special-interest countries like Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen and four countries that have been designated by the U.S. Department of State as state-sponsors of terror – Cuba, Iran, Syria, and Sudan,” Cornyn said.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano called Border Patrol apprehensions a “key indicator of illegal traffic” along the U.S. borders, and she noted the apprehensions have decreased 36 percent in the past two years and are less than one half of what they were at their peak.