According to figures from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), between 2017 and 2024, the Border Patrol detected a total of 396 people whose names appeared on the U.S. government's "terror watch list" at entry points with Mexico. In 2023, there were 103 "encounters" of foreign individuals related to terrorism at the U.S. southwestern border, marking a significant increase compared to previous years.
In 2017, only two cases were reported, while in 2019, there were none. However, in 2023, the number increased to 169 cases, and in 2024, 13 more encounters were recorded. For U.S. authorities, these findings represent a serious threat to national security, although they constitute a very small part of all encounters at the border.
The "terror watch list" contains classified details about individuals whom the government suspects are involved in terrorist activities. Among the data included are names, dates of birth, and fingerprints, which are used by government agencies focused on national security.
In June 2024, federal agents arrested eight citizens of Tajikistan in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia for immigration offenses, finding possible links to terrorism. In March 2023, the Border Patrol detained a Lebanese immigrant near El Paso, Texas, who claimed to be a member of Hezbollah and allegedly planned to make a bomb in New York.
Additionally, Mexico has at times also made arrests of potential criminals linked to terrorism. In 2014, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, the Basque separatists Juan Jesús Narváez Goñi and Iciar Alberdi Uranga were captured after being fugitives for 22 years. In 2015, in Aguascalientes, the Basque separatist Hilario Urbizu San Román, alias "Escopetas," was arrested, and in 2017, Ángel María Tellería Iuriarte, alias "Antxoka," was arrested in León, Guanajuato.
Despite ranking 67th out of 81 countries on the Global Terrorism Index in 2024, Mexico could be positioned differently following the designation of six Mexican drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Global Terrorists by the U.S. government.
