Nearly 600 individuals with ties to terror organizations entered the United States and were granted asylum by the Biden administration, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said during a cabinet meeting Wednesday.
The finding came after Gabbard directed the National Counterterrorism Center to identify cartel members present in the United States, as well as those who’ve attempted to enter the country through legal or illegal means.
“Because of your designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, I took immediate action with our National Counterterrorism Center to prioritize their focus on those terrorists and gang members who are trying to enter our country through legal or illegal means and to seek out those who are already here in our country because of the Biden administration’s four years of open borders,” Gabbard told President Donald Trump during Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
“Just the other day, we found 700 alien terrorists who have ties to MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the Sinaloa cartel,” Gabbard said. “Just yesterday, our NCTC identified almost 600 individuals with ties to other terrorists who came through our border illegally, claimed asylum, and under the Biden administration were paroled here within our borders.”
JUST IN: @ODNIgov‘s National Counterterrorism Center identified 600 individuals with ties to terrorists who came through our borders illegally, claimed asylum, and under the Biden administration, were paroled here within our borders. pic.twitter.com/lgLVBLsst0
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) April 30, 2025
Gabbard explained that her Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is working alongside the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to locate these illegal alien terrorists.
Gabbard’s efforts come after Trump designated eight different gangs and cartels, including Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terror organizations.
The Trump administration has recently taken a slate of actions designed to cripple terror organizations like Tren de Aragua.
Homeland Security Investigations captured a man who they say is a leader of Tren de Aragua in Los Angeles over the weekend. The Venezuelan national, who was identified despite his use of a fake name, flaunted a stash of grenades on social media before his arrest.
That arrest came after federal law enforcement from a wide range of agencies, from the Department of Homeland Security to the IRS, arrested more than 100 people at an underground nightclub that was being used by Tren de Aragua in Colorado.
