Is Abbott correct in saying Syrians were caught at the Mexican border?

Gov. Greg Abbott, at the forefront of a push-back by more than half the nation’s governors against the U.S. admitting Syrian refugees, declared that fresh apprehensions at the TexasMexico border illuminate his concerns.

In a Nov. 18 tweet, the Texas Republican said: “THIS is why Texas is vigilant about Syrian refugees.” His tweet pointed to a headline on a story posted that night by the conservative Breitbart.com: “8 Syrians caught at Texas border in Laredo.”

Refugees from Syria — where four years of civil war have displaced millions of people — have been a hot topic of late. This week, Abbott was one of 31 governors who declared refusals to admit Syrian refugees to their states, for fear militants would mix in.

The morning after Abbott weighed in, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas, took to TV to say there was no need for worry.

Still, we wondered: Could it be that Syrian insurgents were snagged at the Rio Grande?

Abbott spokesman John Wittman declined comment when asked about how the governor reached his conclusion or if the governor believed the described Syrians posed a security threat.

Wittman also did not say whether Abbott had relied on sources aside from the Breitbart story he noted in his tweet.

Breitbart’s story, cited two unnamed individuals described as federal agents who reportedly advised that “eight Syrian illegal aliens attempted to enter Texas from Mexico in the Laredo sector” on Nov. 16, two days before Abbott tweeted.

In an email, Brandon Darby, editor of Breitbart Texas and the lead reporter on the story, said his sources used the word “caught” because they said the Syrians “only acknowledged being Syrian after they were called out.” He also noted that “caught” has a “plethora of acceptable definitions,” which he supplied via email. ‘PRESENTED’

In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security, the umbrella agency for Border Patrol, said two Syrian families presented themselves at the Laredo port of entry and were taken into custody for further processing.

“Please emphasize that they PRESENTED themselves,” the statement said.

Rick Pauza, a Border Patrol spokesman at the Laredo point of entry, said by phone the eight Syrians described in the Breitbart report “identified themselves truthfully” and did not evade agents.

Darby, informed of this response, told us by email, “CBP, unfortunately, has a history of being deceptive with the public.”

The morning after Abbott posted his tweet, McCaul discussed reports of the Syrians in Laredo on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports.

“It was a Syrian refugee family that went to the Laredo port of entry in my state and basically turned themselves in for political asylum,” McCaul said, meaning they were seeking shelter from imminent harm in their home country. “They were not infiltrating to conduct terrorist operations.”

If Syrians were looking for asylum, was walking to the border a reasonable way to do it?

Mana Yegani, a Houston immigration lawyer, told us by phone that one way of seeking asylum is to appear at a port of entry. “This is very common,” Yegani said. “That’s the way you seek refuge. You cross the border and walk to a border patrol agent.”

Typically, she said, after asylum-seekers present themselves to agents, they are sent to detention centers and interviewed by federal asylum officers, who evaluate their cases for admittance to the United States. The process usually takes three to six months, she said.

According to a September 2014 report by Homeland Security, 72 of the 662,483 “aliens apprehended” by the government in the fiscal year through September 2013 were Syrian citizens, up from 57 the year before, down from 114 two years earlier. Our ruling

Abbott tweeted that Syrians were “caught” by federal agents at the border in Laredo, which, he said, explains why “Texas is vigilant about Syrian refugees.”

His implication was that the potential terrorists were trying to infiltrate Texas, giving fuel to his decision to tell the federal government the state intended not to accept Syrian refugees.

Eight Syrians were taken into custody at the port of Laredo, we confirmed. But Homeland Security officials said the Syrians had turned themselves in to a Border Patrol agent, seeking asylum.

So, Abbott’s statement has an element of truth — Syrians landed in U.S. custody — but it leaves an incorrect implication of how and why they got there.

We rate the claim Mostly False.