In recent years, a significant number of immigrants listed on the federal terror watch list have been apprehended at both the southern and northern borders of the U.S., leading national security experts to express concerns over the potential risk of a terrorist attack on American soil.
The escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist group based in Gaza, has heightened these concerns.
The San Diego U.S. Customs and Border Protection field office has warned that Hamas might attempt to infiltrate the U.S. through the southern border.
The San Diego Field Office Intelligence Unit (SDFO-FITU) has assessed that individuals influenced by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas might attempt to travel to or from the Middle East through indirect routes across the Southwest border.
“Individuals with ideological motivations or mercenaries may try to conceal their travel to or from the U.S. to or from Middle Eastern countries via Mexico,” an unclassified document from the office states.
Lora Ries, a former acting deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, highlighted the serious threat posed by illegal immigrants with connections to Hamas. She emphasized that a terrorist attack orchestrated or influenced by Hamas is a genuine threat within the United States.
“The blatant animosity towards Israel and America, evident both domestically and internationally, should serve as a wake-up call,” Ries stated. According to Ries, since President Biden assumed office, our country has seen an influx of millions of inadmissible aliens from over 160 countries worldwide, some of which are known to harbor terrorists.
Mark E. Green, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, echoed these concerns, pointing to federal data that indicates a significant number of migrants with links to terrorism have been apprehended at both the northern and southern U.S. borders.
Green said that every American should be alarmed about the current state of our homeland security. He added that the Biden administration’s failure to enforce existing laws and provide necessary policies to frontline law enforcement has emboldened U.S. adversaries.
Federal data reveals that in the fiscal year 2023 alone, 736 known or suspected terrorists were detained at U.S. borders, marking a record high. Over the past few years, thousands of migrants on the Terrorist Screening Center list have been apprehended. However, these figures do not include migrants who managed to evade detection or capture by border patrol agents.
“How many known or suspected terrorists have successfully evaded apprehension alongside the nearly 1.6 million known gotaways at the Southwest border?” Green questioned, how many more need to be apprehended before Secretary Mayorkas takes decisive action? According to Green, communities nationwide are at risk due to Secretary Mayorkas’ neglect of duty. The lack of transparency on these threats from Congress is utterly unacceptable.
These migrants with connections to terrorism are part of a larger influx of illegal immigrants since the beginning of Biden’s presidency.
This surge in illegal immigration has placed immense pressure on the Biden administration, prompting them to announce plans to resume construction on a section of the southern border wall in Texas earlier this month. This project, initiated by the Trump administration, had been widely criticized by Democrats.
A group of Democratic state and local officials have also written to the White House, calling on President Biden to resolve the border crisis, costing states and municipalities billions of dollars. The FBI oversees the Terrorist Screening Center, a collaborative effort established post-9/11 to maintain a consolidated watchlist for federal agencies.
When inquired, the FBI provided limited responses, directing queries to the Department of Homeland Security. “A person must meet specific intelligence-related criteria to be placed on the TSC watchlist,” an FBI spokesperson clarified.
A spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the surge in immigration from South America is a major factor contributing to the increase in suspected terrorists. According to the spokesperson, DHS is actively addressing the issue. They also noted that encounters with suspected terrorists constitute a very small percentage of overall encounters at the border. Family members or associates of suspected terrorists might also be included on the watch list.
As the events of 9/11 demonstrated, it only takes a few individuals to cause devastating loss of life. Ries said there is a real threat from illegal immigrants connected to Hamas. Ries believes that the Biden administration and its supporters seem to ignore the issue, neglect border security, and deny that their progressive policies leave the U.S. vulnerable to attacks.
While Americans should continue with their daily lives, they should also be extra vigilant given the current global climate, the evident lack of immigration enforcement, and the growing anti-American sentiment in the U.S., fueled by years of vilification from the political Left.