The Biden Administration’s anti-border policies have made the U.S. a more dangerous place, and unnecessarily exposed the nation to an increased risk of terrorism.
An Inspector General (IG) report released earlier this month found that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released an illegal alien on the FBI’s terrorist watch list into the country. The scathing report also revealed that CBP allowed him to take a commercial flight days after it was determined that the alien “was an inconclusive Terrorist Watchlist match.”
The IG report chastised the government for “multiple mistakes” it made handling this alien’s case, but the term mistake is too kind a word to describe the reckless approach this administration has taken when it comes to border security. The conduct described in the IG report is disturbing, but can’t simply be waved away as a one-off or an aberration. Instead, the IG report is indicative of a larger trend which has put the national security of this country in great peril, and heightened the risk of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Over the past two fiscal years, at least 193 suspected terrorists have entered the country illegally. To put that in perspective, only 11 suspected terrorists crossed the border during all four years of the Trump Administration combined. These staggering numbers are not a mistake, but the result of an administration which has prioritized their extreme anti-borders ideology over their obligation to protect the national security of the U.S. Much like the cartels, terrorist organizations are not stupid. They are aware of the reality that the Biden Administration has abandoned the U.S. southern border, and are plotting accordingly.
When many Americans think of the threats of terrorism, they think about Islamic terrorist organizations headquartered in the Middle East, but terror networks do conduct operations just south of our border. Terrorist organizations that wish to do Americans harm, including Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, have been involved in drug and human smuggling for years, and just like the cartels, have been empowered by the duplicitous Biden Administration. The U.S. spent two decades fighting a war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks, decimating international terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. But, that progress threatens to be undone by an administration which has given terrorists, cartels, and gangs free reign at the southern border.
America’s loose immigration system was a main reason the September 11 attacks happened in the first place, as many of the perpetrators had been living in the U.S. under expired visas. The September 11 Commission focused much of its report on the failings of the U.S. immigration system. Yet, more than two decades after that terrible day, the inadequacies of our immigration system which led to those attacks still have not been addressed, and in fact have been made worse by the actions of the current administration. Terrorism still remains a significant national security threat, and the Biden Administration has made the country vulnerable to another attack with its anti-border policies.
The most damning aspect of the IG report was how unsurprising it was. Anybody who has closely followed the Biden Administration’s immigration policy understands that their top priority is importing as many aliens as possible with no regard for the sovereignty and security of the people they are supposed to represent. This dangerous approach has encouraged more than five million illegal aliens to cross the southern border since Joe Biden took office two and a half years ago. We have no idea how many of these foreign nationals are people who seek to do America harm, as the IG report makes clear that the Biden Administration is not properly vetting these people before releasing them into the country.
The Biden Administration is playing a dangerous game, gambling U.S. national security in the hopes that influxes of illegal aliens will help secure political power for them. Americans deserve an administration that puts their safety and sovereignty first.
Dale L. Wilcox is executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.