An Afghan national on the terror watchlist was apprehended by federal authorities after he illegally crossed the southern border into California. An internal memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) announced Border Patrol agents arrested 30 year-old Arif Tanhah in California’s San Diego sector at the Jacumba Hot Springs.

Tanhah as a “positive match” on the terror watchlist as a “known associate” of a terrorist organization, according to the memo. While the memo didn’t disclose which terrorist organization Tanhah was allegedly associated with, the illegal immigrant denied ever having connections to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, according to notes accounting his interview with a federal agent reviewed by the DCNF.

During his interview process, Tanhah told a U.S. federal agent that he traveled from Afghanistan to Iran, then Qatar, where he got a visa for Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama to make his way to the U.S.

Tanhah said he spent $20,000 to reach the U.S., and that his primary source of funding is a brother in Kuwait, according to the interview notes. Additionally, he made it through being stopped twice along the way for biometric checks and questioning. However, he was denied entry into Europe in 2020.

DCNF issued a report on recent dangerous apprehensions at the U.S. border:

Border Patrol recorded the apprehensions of 172 individuals on the terrorist watchlist entering the United States illegally in fiscal year 2023. From October through December, Border Patrol recorded 50 encounters of terror watchlisted individuals, according to federal data.

Agents also recorded 98 encounters of individuals whose names appeared on the terror watchlist in fiscal year 2022 and 16 in fiscal year 2021, according to the data.

In recent weeks, the DCNF has reported on an influx of terror watchlisted migrants crossing the southern border illegally, some of whom have been released from federal custody for periods of time.

On Jan. 20, ICE officers in Minnesota arrested a member of the Somali terror group al-Shabaab after authorities released him shortly after he illegally crossed the southern border near San Ysidro, California, in March, according to an internal federal memo recently obtained by the DCNF. The Terrorist Screening Center deemed the 27-year-old Somali national “mismatch’” on the watchlist, but later determined to be a confirmed member of al-Shabaab after he was in the country for nearly a year.

On Feb. 6, Border agents nabbed an individual who crossed the southern border illegally and admitted to his previous ties to a Colombian terrorist organization, according to an internal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) memo exclusively obtained by the DCNF.