The border is "the greatest threat to national security" right now. So far this fiscal year, Customs and Border Security has apprehended 525 suspected terrorists, more than in all of the last fiscal year. Border Patrol agents warn that the number of illegal immigrants who managed to cross the border undetected during Biden's tenure exceeds 1.7 million. In addition, the immigration policy of the Executive is leading to an increase in the activity of cartels and human traffickers, who have expanded their networks and profits in this business by taking advantage of the facilities and applications it offers them.
The current state of the Southwest border, the human trafficking, the overdose deaths, and the cartel crimes and murders is the greatest threat to our country. pic.twitter.com/dKplTuDAfH
— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) July 28, 2023
Highest numbers since 2019, and not counting gotaways
In the nine months through the current fiscal year, CBP has recorded 525 arrests of individuals who are on the Suspected Terrorist or Known Terrorist list. That is more than the 478 that were made in the entire previous fiscal year. The differences are even more notable with respect to 2021 (173) and 2020 (199). Only 2019 recorded slightly higher numbers (541), when counting the twelve months. The most notable increase has been in encounters with the Border Patrol between ports of entry, which went from 98 in 2022 to 143 in 2023.
To this must be added the high number of people who have managed to cross the border while avoiding law enforcement. A number that, according to Border Patrol agents who asked not to be identified in statements to The Center Square, exceeds 1.7 million, and among whom it is very likely that potential terrorists are to be found. An opinion shared by Ira Mehlman, of the Federation for American Immigration Reform:
Our open borders and easily abused asylum policies are not just a magnet for millions of economic migrants, they are also an open invitation for people who are intent on doing harm to our nation. International terrorist organizations and criminal cartels are very aware of our vulnerabilities and will not hesitate to exploit them.
Cartels and traffickers' business is on the rise
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green, is one of those who is most actively denouncing this situation, and it is not something new. Green has long been warning about the state of the border and that the real beneficiaries are not the poor immigrants who risk their lives in search of something better, but the cartels and human and drug traffickers, who are expanding their business and dramatically increasing their profits. Unfortunately, the figures are ratifying their warnings.
The Biden administration’s policies are enriching drug cartels, which will ultimately give these dangerous and violent organizations more power to sow chaos in their home countries. https://t.co/6DmNuSgi9W
— Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) August 1, 2023
The question is not "if" there will be a new attack on national territory, but "when"
The former acting deputy chief of the Department of Homeland Security, Lora Ries, went further to explain the danger these numbers pose to national security, putting as a precedent the number of people executed on 9/11 and pointed out that more than knowing "if" there will be a new attack on national territory, the question is "when."
Remember, the 9/11 terrorist attacks were carried out by just 19 people. As this administration lets millions of unknown and potentially dangerous aliens into the country with no oversight, the question of the next attack on American soil becomes less of an "if" and almost certainly "when?”
