(The Center Square) – At least 18,000 known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) were released into the U.S. during the Biden administration, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent told the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security at a hearing in Washington, D.C.
The NCTC has also added roughly 35,000 narco-terrorists to the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) since he’s been the NCTC director. President Donald Trump appointed Kent to the position after he deployed 11 times overseas to fight Islamic terrorists while serving in the U.S. Army Special Forces.
The additional KSTs added to the TSDS include members of newly designated foreign terrorist organizations(FTOs), including multiple Mexican cartels and transnational criminal organizations like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. The Trump administration made the FTO designations in February, The Center Square reported.
The unprecedented 18,000 KSTs excludes the 6,525 KSTs the NCTC helped prevent from entering the country as of October, The Center Square reported.
It’s a huge jump from the nearly 1,200 KSTs NCTC identified illegally in the U.S. within the first 100 days of the Trump administration, The Center Square reported.
“We have a persistent threat from the individuals that were allowed into this country by the previous administration. The number one threat that we have right now is the fact that we don't know who came into our country in the last four years,” Kent said.
So far, the NCTC has identified 18,000 KSTs released into the country by the Biden administration “who, under normal circumstances, would never be allowed to enter our country because of their ties to Jihadist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda,” Kent said. “Yet, the Biden administration not only let them into the country, in many cases, facilitated their entry.”
They include the Afghan men who committed terrorist attacks and attempted terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C., Texas and Virginia in a one-week period, as well as others being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Center Square reported.
None of the 18,000 were properly vetted, Kent said. “The Biden Administration essentially used his tactical level vetting as a ruse to bring him here and to bring him into our communities, and we've seen the tragic results of that,” Kent said.
Of 88,000 Afghans released into the U.S., the NCTC has identified 2,000 who “have ties to terrorist organizations,” Kent testified.
Kent also said that it was impossible for the Biden administration to have vetted the Afghans released into the country.
“Prior to the Biden administration, these individuals, even ones who wanted to claim asylum, they had to go to the first safe third country,” he explained. “And it would take 18 months to two years to properly vet them. Biden threw all of that out the window.”
Now, the NCTC is working hand in hand with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI “to run down this 2,000 — the Afghans who came here under Allies Welcome who have ties to terrorist organizations — and additionally, the other 16,000 individuals of ties to terrorist organizations that Biden let into our country,” to find and deport them, he said.
The 18,000 people with ties to terrorism present “the top terrorist threat that we face right now, and that doesn't include the individuals who came here illegally through the open border,” he said, referring to millions of people released through parole programs as well as at least two million gotaways, those who illegally entered and evaded capture. “That number alarmingly remains unknown at this time. We're trying to figure out who those individuals are as well,” he said.
The NCTC also issued a warning about heightened terrorism threats presented by ISIS and al-Queda.
The warning was issued as U.S. Customs and Border Protection updated the number of KSTs CBP and Border Patrol agents have apprehended at the northern and southwest borders. Due to the new FTO designations, KST apprehensions reached a record high under the Trump administration.
In fiscal 2025, a record 4,011 KSTs were apprehended, according to CBP data. So far in just the first 45 days of fiscal 2026, 1,949 KSTs have been apprehended, according to the data. The fiscal year goes from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
The greatest number of KSTs that CBP and Border Patrol agents ever apprehended in U.S. history was 1,903 during the Biden administration, according to CBP data.
The majority, 64%, totaling 1,216, were apprehended at the northern border coming from Canada between fiscal years 2021-2024, according to CBP data, The Center Square first reported.
