Suspected terrorists using fake IDs to enter US illegally, FBI warns

EAGLE PASS, Texas (NewsNation) — Intelligence officials are warning about a significant increase in potential threats against the U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray highlights one of the major concerns: known or suspected terrorists using fake identification after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The crisis at the southern border extends beyond migrants entering the country. Law enforcement is particularly concerned about those seeking to break the rules. Now, the FBI is openly acknowledging and alerting the nation to the daily imminent threats.

What’s particularly concerning is that the documents migrants provide are often used to process them before they’re released. Validating these documents is extremely challenging in many cases because vetting becomes difficult without effective communication or established relationships with their home counties. Those same documents are then used for air travel across the country.

While Americans undergo rigorous TSA screening, the southern border seemingly offers a smoother passage. Migrants have been observed crossing the border one day and within a few days, they’re ready to fly to their destination. Some airports have special lines for migrants, according to former Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Victor Avila.

This comes as ICE recently apprehended a man from Brazil who had overstayed his visa in the U.S. by a year, after entering in March 2022. Brazilian authorities had been pursuing him since June 2022 for statutory rape. While he wasn’t using fake identification, he was wanted by the Brazilian government, but an alert was issued after he entered the U.S.

Sources told NewsNation many migrants move to countries such as Brazil, establish a life there, and then move to the U.S. claiming that’s their country of origin. Worse still, migrants leave their documents behind and start a new life in their new destination.

“They’re infiltrating us within these groups that are turning themselves in because a lot of them have been in Mexico for a while. They learned to speak Spanish. They shaved their beards. They look like possibly a Mexican national, a Central American, and they have fake documents,” Avila said.

“So, they present these fake documents and enter with a different nationality. It just gives me chills to think of the national security implications that we’re facing and that we possibly will face in the near future,” he continued.

The U.S. lacks sound and stable relationships with nearly 170 countries represented at the southern border, with many being third-world countries that lack adequate databases. This is evident as repatriation flights to Venezuela remain halted, and those to Haiti are currently threatened due to unrest.

As NewsNation has extensively covered, border agents don’t have access to all criminal databases when screening migrants at the border. Unless these migrants have committed a crime in the U.S. in the past or are on a watchlist, there is no way to ascertain their identities.