Illegal Border Crossings Today:

Timely Reminder: National Security Depends on Border Security

Obama Admin Opens Door to New Immigration Crisis

President Biden’s border crisis — and his refusal to fix it — has justifiably received much attention and scorn for the resulting burden it has placed on American cities struggling with unanticipated costs to provide housing, health care, education, and other services for millions of new migrants. Understandably so. Coast-to-coast, in cities large and small, migrant surges are destabilizing communities and straining resources. Yet, recent events in Israel — unimaginable terrorist atrocities to be absolutely precise — along with the risk of collateral attacks on U.S. soil, should be a grim reminder that Biden’s open border policies also represent appalling national security vulnerabilities, worsening with each passing month as hundreds of thousands illegally enter the U.S., most released with lax vetting.

If sheer numbers of those entering increase risks, then the threat of terrorism is rising dramatically given recent reports.

  • A new House Judiciary Committee report reveals that Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is refusing to deport almost all illegal aliens arriving to the United States. According to the official findings, more than five million illegal aliens arrived at the border between January 20, 2021 and March 31, 2023, yet almost half of them stayed because DHS has no confirmation of their departure. The other half?  DHS released most of them into American communities. As committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said, “In other words, the Biden Administration failed to remove 99.73 percent of illegal aliens during President Biden’s first 26 months in office.”
  • The report also includes data that shows more than 1.7 million known “gotaways” have evaded U.S. Border Patrol and escaped into the interior of the United States since January 2021 while potentially countless more unknown “gotaways” have also escaped into the country.
  • Customs and Border Protection (CBP) enforcement statistics show that 151 illegal aliens known to be on the terror watch list have been encountered between U.S. ports of entry in FY 2023, to date.
  • New CBP data leaked to Fox News reveals that thousands of “special interest aliens” from numerous countries, including the Middle East, have been arrested by Border Patrol agents while attempting to cross the U.S. southern border illegally over the last two years. Between October 2021 and October 2023, agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan in that period as well as 3,153 from Egypt, 659 from Iran and 538 from Syria. Agents also encountered 13,624 from Uzbekistan, 30,830 from Turkey, 1,613 from Pakistan, 164 from Lebanon, 185 from Jordan, 139 from Yemen, 123 from Iraq and 15,594 from Mauritania.

Americans want sensible immigration policies that enhance the economy, protect wages, and preserve quality education, healthcare, and a clean environment. Yet there are times such as now – punctuated by Hamas’ savage attack on Israel – reminding us that one crucial pillar of border control is preservation of national security. To be sure, terrorist organizations exist and they operate in this hemisphere paying close attention to how they might exploit loopholes and gain entry.

Thus, now more than ever, the default position in all immigration decisions should be the national security and public safety interests of the American public.