Arrests of suspected terrorists have sharply declined at the Mexican border since last fall but are dramatically higher on the Canadian border, according to the head of the FBI.
FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed Wednesday to lawmakers on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that as apprehensions of “known or suspected terrorists” had declined on the southern border, they have been and continue to be high along the northern boundary.
“[Known or suspected terrorists] are coming in with much less frequency at the southern border. In fact, if my information is correct, two since January 20, and they are coming in with much greater frequency in the northern border,” testified Patel in a hearing focused on worldwide threats to the United States.
“Since January 20, that number is 34,” Patel said in response to Rep. French Hill (R-AR). “So what it tells me is that known or suspected terrorists, the individuals that want to do the most harm to this country, are utilizing the northern border, and we got to refocus assets up there.”
Patel pointed to “the successes we’ve had in closing the southern border” as the reason for terrorist affiliates to be attempting to enter another way.
Data posted online by U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed that just 13 suspected terrorists have been nabbed attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico between the land ports of entry in fiscal 2025, which includes from October 2024 through February this year.
In fiscal 2023 and 2024, 103 and 169 suspected terrorists were arrested, respectively, at the same border.
Arrests on the northern border are highest at the ports of entry, which include land, sea, and air ports. In the first five months of 2025, 143 suspected terrorists were nabbed by customs officers, putting the total on track to near last year’s total of 358, which was among the highest years in recorded history.
However, concerns about who or what is coming over the nation’s border were not relegated to just bad actors.
Patel divulged that fentanyl is coming across the northern border as well as the southern border.
“The Mexican cartels, along with their illicit partners in the [China Communist Party] and other adversarial countries that are doing harm, are not just taking the fight down south, but they’re bringing it up north,” Patel told Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL). “So we need to be more vigilant as to what’s coming in through our northern border as well.”
Along the entire northern border, including at ports of entry and between the ports, CBP personnel have seized 12 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal 2025 compared to 6,000 pounds across the southern border, according to federal statistics.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION USING PUBLIC VISUAL THREATS AS IMMIGRATION DETERRENTS
Patel, who was recently confirmed as the FBI’s leader after a contentious vote in the Senate, says more collaboration with the Canadian government is the best way to address illegal immigration and drug smuggling up north.
The northern border is roughly twice the length of the southern border and contains no border wall because much of it is very remote.
