Last week a 29-year-old Iranian illegal immigrant was arrested at the southern border. His name and date of birth were a match on the FBI’s terror watch list.

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) arrested Alireza Heidari after a traffic stop. The traffic stop involved a human smuggler at the border in Val Verde County. It was part of Operation Lone Star. He was being smuggled in the trunk of a vehicle with four other illegal immigrants. Heidari was handed over to Border Patrol custody. He was later determined to be a match on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB).

Fox News reporters reached out to DHS, ICE, and CBP on Thursday and also multiple other times. Finally, on Tuesday, DHS referred Fox to the FBI. The FBI declined to comment. The FBI’s website notes that it does not confirm anyone’s status on the terror watch list.

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd noted that it was Texas DPS, not Border Patrol, that apprehended Heidari. He commended Governor Abbott and DPS for the capture.

“If not for the work of Governor Abbott and Texas DPS, Alireza Heidari would be at large on our streets today and looking to harm the US and our fellow citizens,” Judd said. “Heidari entered the country illegally and evaded apprehension by the Border Patrol. It fell to Texas DPS to do our job because [President] Biden continues to play politics with the safety and security of our children, friends, and neighbors. What Biden is doing is dangerous and the capture of Heidari by a non-federal law enforcement agency is the most recent proof.”

He is one of 38 people on the Terror Watch List captured since October 2022, when the Fiscal Year began. How many have been missed? How many are roaming around the country, perhaps planning nefarious acts against innocent Americans? Joe Biden’s border crisis is not just a humanitarian crisis, it is also a national security crisis. Questions remain – why are Iranians illegally crossing into the United States? Who are they meeting up with once here?

When we fly, we must undergo TSA screening at airports. Yet, illegal aliens walk across the border and no extra security actions are being taken. This Iranian person would have been counted as a gotaway. He was fleeing from law enforcement in the trunk of a human smuggler’s car.

The number of people who made a match on the terror watch list has increased since the Biden border crisis began.

The FBI’s TSDB contains information about the identities of those who are “reasonably suspected” of being involved in terrorism or related activities. There were 17 people stopped by Border Patrol in December alone whose names matched the list. That brings the total of individuals arrested at the southern border between ports of entry to 38 since October.

There were 98 terror watch list arrests in FY22, 15 in FY21 and just three in FY 20 at the southern border caught between ports of entry.

At the ports of entry at the northern and southern borders, CBP’s Office of Field Operations has encountered 125 people on the TSDB so far this fiscal year. In FY 2022 there were 380 apprehensions, 157 in FY21, and 196 in FY20.

Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed. Increased apprehensions between ports of entry during the Biden border crisis raise concerns about the number of illegal criminals and terrorists slipping through as gotaways. There is both a humanitarian and national security crisis on the southern border.

UPDATE: DHS tells Fox’s reporter on the border, Bill Melugin, that further vetting shows Heidari is not a conclusive match on the terror watch list. That’s good news. I think. Let’s hope the information in the database is correct.