Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall reiterated his push for federal agencies to be transparent about the number of terrorist encounters at the U.S. southern border amid growing national security concerns in response to the Israel-Hamas war on "Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy."
Marshall stressed the urgency to address these concerns during his interview with FOX News' Trey Gowdy and expressed concerns about the lack of information provided to the public and lawmakers regarding individuals on terrorist and alien watch lists attempting to cross the southern border.
BORDER PATROL STOPS RECORD NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON TERROR WATCH LIST AT SOUTHERN BORDER
"We’ve encountered over 170 terrorists on the terrorist watch list in the past year. In the past two years, thousands of people on the alien watch list as well, 2,000 Chinese nationals on this watch list have crossed the border as well," Marshall said.
Marshall called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to disclose details about these encounters in an effort to uphold public safety.
"All we're asking DHS to do is tell us where these people are, who they are, what they're doing, are they still in the country, were they caught and released? We don't want to be asleep at the wheel like Israel was when Hamas attacked Israel," he said.
Gowdy echoed Marshall's concerns and questioned the rationale behind the Biden administration's decision to keep such information confidential.
"Who in the world could object to knowing whether terrorists are trying to cross our borders? I mean, what is the argument against that?" Gowdy asked.
HIGH MIGRANT NUMBERS BREAK MULTIPLE RECORDS IN NEW BLOW TO BIDEN BORDER STRATEGY
Marshall took aim at Secretary Mayorkas by labeling him "incompetent" and claimed the President Biden "wants these 8,000 people crossing the border illegally."
"[Biden] thinks that those are future votes for the Democrat Party. He wants this crisis, and it's hard for me to understand why in the middle of this situation, the crisis in Israel, that he would try to leverage that for money in Ukraine, as well as making the border even more porous."
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, a record 169 people on the FBI terror watch lists were encountered between ports of entry at the southern border in the past 12 months.
FOX News' Adam Shaw and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
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