Right-wing media are trumpeting a spurious Judicial Watch report claiming that an Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist camp has been set up near the Texas border, allowing ISIS terrorists to be smuggled into the United States, despite the fact that U.S. federal law agencies say the claim is unsubstantiated.  

An April 14 report from Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group, claimed that the terrorist group “ISIS is operating a camp just a few miles from El Paso, Texas,” and ISIS terrorists are being smuggled “through the porous border,” which is being targeted due to “understaffed municipal and country police forces.” 

Right-wing media outlets quickly echoed the dubious claim, and Fox News host Sean Hannity highlighted the Judicial Watch report on the April 14 edition of his radio show. Hannity read from the report, calling it “a very dangerous story,” and stoked fears that Islamic State terrorists are being smuggled into the U.S., saying “we have said so many times for so many years that we need to secure America's borders.” Hannity concluded by asking, “what are you going to do about that President Obama, anything?” 

But federal law agencies involved with border security have said the Judicial Watch report of Islamic State terrorists near the U.S.-Mexico border is “unverified.”

Right-wing media have a history of echoing dubious Judicial Watch reports to incite fear about terrorists crossing the U.S. border. Fox News parroted the group's September 2014 claim that a terrorist attack from the U.S.-Mexico border was “imminent,” although the claim was roundly denounced by terrorism experts and rated "mostly false" by Politifact.