Trump’s Claim of Terrorists Streaming Over Border ‘Simply Isn’t True,’ Experts Say – The New York Times

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said on Sunday that “nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally,” and added that the “most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border.”

A day later, Kellyanne Conway, the White House counselor, called those comments “an unfortunate misstatement.”

At the same time, in a memo sent to journalists late Monday, Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, cited “more than 3,000 ‘special-interest aliens’ — individuals with suspicious travel patterns” who posed a potential national security risk.

“The threat is real,” she wrote in a series of tweets on Monday afternoon. “The number of terror-watchlisted 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.”

Former national security officials and analysts have pushed back — especially on the notion that terrorism suspects or their sympathizers use the southwest border as a door to the United States.

“That 4,000 number was bull,” said W. Ralph Basham, who served as commissioner of United States Customs and Border Protection from 2006 to 2009, during the Bush administration.

“The idea that you have that many terrorists flooding across the border when you have all of these dedicated agents focused on stopping that kind of activity is ridiculous,” Mr. Basham said.