In the past four years, record numbers of migrants have been able to enter the U.S. illegally through the southern border. These migrant influxes have opened the U.S. to individuals with ties to transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups as migrants’ countries of origin diversify and extend beyond Central America. This week, three Palestinian terror suspects were caught in San Diego after attempting to cross the border illegally, yet another security lapse resulting from the current administration’s failed border policies.
The Biden-Harris administration’s emphasis on development-focused policies in Central America will take years to reap fruit. This emphasis on long-term goals of addressing root causes of migration without a strategy to first secure the border led to the crisis and surges of migrants we see today.
U.S. national security should always take precedence over development initiatives in foreign lands, and that is the crux of the shortcomings in the Biden-Harris agenda. In the same way parents would first provide for their own children before giving to others in need, our government officials should be focused on taking care of the issues at home first.
If we are letting terrorists into our homeland, how can we expect to combat terrorism in the Middle East?
According to accounts from Border Patrol officials, “it’s far too easy for criminals to enter the U.S.” Part of this is due to the insufficient security resources of sending countries as border officials are unable to access international criminal databases. However, “this administration’s uselessness in deterring these criminals” invites continued attempts to breach the border.
Biden’s inconsequential border plan is a last-ditch effort to distract from his failed policies these last four years. It is also “too little too late” as border officials have lacked the resources to vet those who claim to need asylum, acknowledging that they have “probably let terrorists in the country.”
As the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies come under scrutiny with regard to the upcoming election, it is unclear why the Harris campaign thinks highlighting the Vice President’s task to address “root causes” of migration in Central America will distract from her failures as the “border czar”, as if these issues aren’t directly related.
Although migration from the Northern Triangle – Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador – decreased after 2021 – 86,089 in March 2021 to 25,015 in June 2024, immigration experts agree this is largely due to outside factors. Many migrants were deterred by Abbott’s crackdowns and Mexico’s increased enforcement since the record highs of crossings in December 2023. These numbers also fail to reflect the growing numbers of migrants from countries other than Mexico and the Northern Triangle, such as Venezuela and China.
This surge of migrants from Central America has resulted in an influx of gang violence and transnational crime in the U.S. Just this week, the Homeland Security Investigations office issued a memo warning that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua gave the “green light” to members to shoot U.S. cops in Denver – a sanctuary city that has received 40,000 Venezuelan migrants since 2022. By entering the U.S. with claims of needing asylum, these criminal groups have been able to infiltrate American cities as we have seen with the recent shooting of NYPD cops.
Not only has transnational crime from Central America infiltrated the U.S., but militant terrorist ideology as well. For those skeptical about the true insecurity of the border, the pro-Hamas protests we have seen in the past year reflect the loud voices of a growing minority – those who are anti-American and empathetic of terrorism – an ideology spurred by foreign influence. With our open borders, it is no surprise these ideas have taken root in our society.
While some may say the percentages of migrants on the terror watchlist are negligible and over-inflated by conservative media, there was a definite uptick in these crossings under the Biden-Harris administration.
The percentage of Terrorist Screening Data Set (TSDS) Encounters at the border remains under 1%, yet there was a jump from just 3 TSDS encounters between ports of entry in 2020 at 0.0007% to 172 encounters in 2023 at 0.0083%. While this still may seem low, it’s a fraction of 3,201,144 – the total number of border enforcement actions in 2023 – which is an incomprehensible surge compared to 646,822 in 2020.
The current administration vehemently denies incompetence at handling the border crisis while Americans watched illegal border crossing numbers soar alongside increasing noncitizen criminal arrests over the last four years. It’s a slap in the face as we are told not to believe what we plainly see. This is exactly what happened as Americans expressed concern over President Biden’s decline and yet were told, “Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong.”
Americans are tired of being lied to about the egregious border policy failures of the current administration. Security starts in the homeland, and we must see policies and leaders who prioritize this principle.