The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning that the terrorism threat level in the United States remains high, as migrants with ties to terrorism continue to enter the country illegally.

In its 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment, the DHS cautioned, “Over the next year, we expect some individuals with terrorism ties and some criminal actors will continue their efforts to exploit migration flows and the complex border security environment to enter the United States.”

The assessment continued, “Individuals with potential terrorism connections continue to attempt to enter the Homeland at both the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders and also through the immigration system.”

This comes as 422 individuals on the federal Terrorist Screening Data Set have been intercepted while trying to enter the US through the northern or southern borders as of July in fiscal year 2024, according to The New York Post. Those listed on the terrorist watchlist include individuals who “may be directly engaged in or supporting terrorist activities as well as known associates of watchlisted individuals, such as family members.” US Customs and Border Protection reported encountering 283 individuals from the watchlist at the US-Canada border, and roughly 139 at the US-Mexico border, as of July.

It further stated that migrant encounters along the US-Canada borderare on the rise, with over 181,000 encounters in fiscal year 2024 through August, compared to about 170,000 during the same period in fiscal year 2023. Unlike the US-Mexico border, many watchlist encounters at the US-Canada take place at the legal ports of entry, and most of these individuals have legal status in Canada.

“Migrant encounters at our border have declined over the last year, but migrants are still arriving in high numbers, complicating border and immigration security,” the assessment noted. 

The assessment emphasized that the “terrorism threat environment in the Homeland will remain high.” It expressed particular concern about “violent extremist responses” to the upcoming election and warned that “foreign violent extremists” could carry out attacks in the US due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

The DHS report also mentioned that groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda “maintain the enduring intent to conduct or inspire attacks in the Homeland and have leveraged the conflict in the Middle East to reaffirm this intent.”

“The Homeland Security Assessment provides an important overview of the dynamic and evolving threat landscape, illustrating just how varied and challenging the threats we confront are,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement. “It is because of the remarkable DHS workforce, and our close collaboration with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners, that we are able to meet the challenges and keep the American people safe and secure.” 

This piece first appeared at TPUSA.