Scott says he believes ‘we have sleeper terrorist cells in America’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) on Wednesday claimed there are “sleeper terrorist cells in America” as he called for greater national security measures on the southern border.

“I believe that we have sleeper terrorist cells in America. Thousands of people have come from Yemen, Iran, Syria and Iraq,” Scott said on the debate stage. “If we are going to deal with a national security emergency at our border, we have to do it now.”

Scott’s latest claim builds on previous messaging from his campaign that levies unsubstantiated suggestions about terrorists crossing the southern border.

In his campaign announcement speech, after talking about the southern border, Scott said, “Hundreds of people on our terrorist watch list are crossing our borders.”

A Washington Post analysis noted Scott specifically used the plural “borders” and said Scott’s spokesperson pointed to DHS data showing “terrorist screening encounters” at all ports of entry.

That data, according to the Post analysis, showed the encounters significantly higher at the border with Canada than at the southern border. The analysis also noted that those numbers track people who were stopped at the border, not those who crossed successfully.

Scott is one of five GOP candidates to qualify for the RNC debate stage on Wednesday. His polling numbers remain in the low single-digits.