About 1,500 Iranians were intercepted at the border during the Biden Administration, but it’s the unknown number who got through that is alarming officials — who told The Post “sleeper cells” are a grave potential threat to the nation.
“We have no idea how many people got around obviously. The numbers are deeply concerning,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who previously served as US ambassador to Japan during the first Trump administration.
About half of the intercepted Iranians were released into the country, Hagerty said, apparently referencing a Fox News report last year that 1,504 Iranians were arrested at the border between 2021 and 2024, with 700 released into the country pending court cases.
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The US has long listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The number of Iranians intercepted at the border grew to 1,650 between 2022 and 2025, according to Customs and Border Patrol data cited by the nonpartisan Niskanen Center. Many flew through Sao Paolo, Brazil, a “hub” for passport fraud.
Hagerty’s comments came after the feds sent out a security alert warning of a possible effort by Iran to direct “prepositioned sleeper assets,” even as much of its top leadership has been wiped out through relentless US and Israeli air attacks.
The caution raised fears that Iran, which has continued to hammer its Gulf neighbors and whose retaliation has led to the deaths of at least 13 American service members, could find a way to strike on the home front.
President Trump acknowledged the concerns March 11.
“A lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border, but we know where most of them are: We’ve got our eye on all of them, I think,” he said.
Homeland security concerns rose even higher when a deranged Lebanese American man slammed a car packed with explosives into a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and an ISIS-linked gunman opened fire at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing an ROTC instructor.
FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe also met with Republican senators in the Capitol this month to discuss expiring federal surveillance authority, as security fears at home intensify.
