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After California U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter said in a nationally cablecast interview that ISIS fighters had been caught by federal agents trying to cross into the country from Mexico, the Texas Department of Public Safety sent a contradictory message to Texas legislators.
We rated Pants on Fire the claim by Hunter that at "least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas" and there are "dozens more that did not get caught by the Border Patrol."
That fact check drew on the Oct. 8 email sent to legislators by the DPS, signed by a deputy director, Robert Bodisch, who said the department "does not have any information to confirm" statements about Islamic terrorists or ISIS fighters entering the country.
Bodisch further wrote: "An unsecure border is certainly a vulnerability that can be exploited by criminals of all kinds, and it would be naïve to rule out the possibility that any criminal organization would not look for opportunities to take advantage of security gaps along our international border. That said, DPS does not have any information to confirm the specific statements recently reported in the press."
See a copy of the DPS message, which we requested from state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, here.
