Thursday, November 07, 2024
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Former Border Patrol agent asks 23 years after 9/11: What does ‘safe’ mean?



Twenty-three years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans are not any safer than they were before because of a border crisis facilitated by the Biden-Harris administration, national security experts argue.

One U.S. Army veteran who later served as a Border Patrol agent for 10 years but left citing Biden-Harris policies told The Center Square that Americansโ€™ safety and security means something different depending on the administration in charge.

Since fiscal 2021, more than 12.5 million foreign nationals have illegally entered the country under Vice President Kamala Harris, designated the โ€œborder czarโ€ by President Joe Biden. That’s by far the greatest number of any administration in U.S. history.

The illegal entries include two million who evaded capture, known as gotaways, alarming those in law enforcement because they say they donโ€™t know who or where they are or how many are connected to countries of foreign concern or state sponsors of terrorism. Several hundred with connections to the Islamic terrorist organization, ISIS, have illegally entered the country, authorities confirmed this year.

Those whoโ€™ve been apprehended by U.S. authorities attempting to enter the U.S. include a record number of known or suspected terrorists โ€“ more than 1,700 since fiscal 2021. This is the greatest number in U.S. history, and equivalent to nearly two U.S. Army battalions.

The majority of those on the terrorist watch list apprehended by Americans came from Canada, nearly 1,100. They total the equivalent of one U.S. Army battalion.

The administration has โ€œunsecured the border on purposeโ€ and โ€œcreated the greatest national security threat since 9/11,โ€ Tom Homan, former director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told The Center Square.

The total number of illegal border crossers under Biden-Harris total more than the individual populations of 45 U.S. states, The Center Square reported.

The record number parallels Bidenโ€™s stated goal at a North American Summit in Washington, D.C., in 2021 to facilitate more foreign nationals coming to the U.S., The Center Square reported. He also formalized a Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection in 2022 with roughly two dozen countries to facilitate the โ€œsafe, orderly migrationโ€ of foreign nationals into the U.S. and in other countries.

The terminology has been repeatedly used by Harris and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Itโ€™s also been embraced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose agents have been ordered to release illegal foreign nationals into the country through new parole programs and a CBP One app. The programs and app are illegal, multiple states who sued to stop them, argue. Mayorkas was also impeached over them.

Despite Biden, Harris and Mayorkas claims that the border is secure and those being released into the country are being vetted, DHS Office of Inspector General audits prove otherwise. Federal agents canโ€™t find foreign nationals released into U.S. as terrorism threats are heightened, The Center Square reported.

Despite this, Canadian officials have told The Center Square, โ€œThe Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world.โ€ Mexicoโ€™s outgoing president said Mexico doesnโ€™t have a cartel problem, the U.S. โ€œdrug problemโ€ isnโ€™t Mexicoโ€™s problem and โ€œwe are not going to act as any policemen for any foreign government.โ€

โ€œThe record number of people on the terrorist watchlist coming across the northern borderโ€ disproves the โ€œmost secure border in the worldโ€ claim, Homan said. โ€œWhat they wonโ€™t tell you are the unknown gotaways coming through the northern border.โ€

Former Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan agrees, adding, โ€œTo say that our borders are secure is simply not a factual statement,โ€ he said. โ€œIt’s just not. What level of threat is coming across is unknown.โ€

Morgan, also a retired FBI chief, was among several officials who warned Congress that the volume of single military age men illegally entering the U.S. equates to a โ€œsoft invasionโ€ and a terrorist attack is likely imminent but preventable if security measures were put in place.

Ammon Blair, former Border Patrol agent and U.S. Army officer and senior fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said if the border were secure, the number of illegal border crossers would be zero.

He also pushed back on Biden-Harris administration claims about โ€œsafe, orderly migration,โ€ saying, โ€œWho would it be safe for? According to Mayorkas, safety means the safe, orderly, humane migration for illegal aliens into the country.โ€

โ€œWhat does safe mean, and who are safe?โ€ he asks. โ€œWhere are the protection protocols to protect Americans? There arenโ€™t any. The only agency that has a protective order to secure a border is the U.S. military.โ€

Multiple officials have said there arenโ€™t enough agents to patrol the northern or southwest borders, not to mention other ports of entry along the U.S. coast.

โ€œWe donโ€™t have the resources to patrol the border, the technology or manpower,โ€ Blair said. โ€œThe capacity to have 100% awareness of the border is astronomical and doesnโ€™t happen with the current system under Department of Homeland Security.โ€

During Tuesdayโ€™s presidential debate, Harris deflected from answering questions about her role as border czar and didnโ€™t say how sheโ€™d protect Americans from terrorist threats.