Category: War on Terror

Only ‘A Fool’ Wouldn’t Expect Terrorism At Open Border Says Az Rep

 By Joe Guzzardi

From the Oval Office, President Joe Biden made an impassioned mid-October address that laid out the stakes for Americans as to why they must support Israel and Ukraine in their wars against aggressors Hamas and Russia. He called the wars an American national security imperative, with victory critical to the future of democracies worldwide.

Biden spoke forcefully, but unconvincingly to many in his audience. Included in Biden’s message was an “urgent budget request” – his proposed $106 billion package which designated $64.1 billion for Ukraine. But Biden gave short shrift to Israel, a proposed $14.3 billion, and tagged on $10 billion for humanitarian assistance, a category that will give $850 million to process more illegal aliens at the border.

Since the start of Ukraine’s endless war with Russia in 2022, the U.S. has sent more than $135 billion on Ukraine. For its ally Israel, since its founding as an independent state in 1948, the U.S. has provided just over $150 billion. President Biden’s latest request would tie Israel’s $14.3 billion to Ukraine’s $61.4 billion. But Louisiana U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson’s election as House Speaker put Biden’s bid for continued Ukraine funding in doubt; Johnson is a long-time opponent to indefinite Ukraine funding. Johnson did, however, agree to $14.6 billion for Israel, slightly more than Biden requested, with the caveat that each dollar given must be offset by an equal amount in federal government spending cuts, a process called “pay for’s.”

Biden urged Americans to get behind Israel and Ukraine’s defenses because, in the president’s words, support “is vital for national security.” The president’s plea to send Ukraine more billions while the Southern border remains wide open, and exploitable to terrorists, is incomprehensible, and it is unacceptable to Johnson and millions of concerned Americans. Ukraine is a profoundly corrupt country. Transparency International, a worldwide movement that works to expose corruption and the injustice it inflicts, ranks Ukraine No. 116 out of the 180 nations it evaluated, a red flag to lenders since monies sent aren’t specifically accounted for in detail.

Biden and his administration’s like-minded, pro-war Secretaries of Defense and State, Tony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, are staunchly behind Ukraine. In September, Blinken made his fourth trip to Kyiv to give President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a message from President Biden: the U.S. wants “to reaffirm strongly our support” for Ukraine. Austin, in a recent telephone call to Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, reassured his Ukrainian counterpart of the U.S.’s continued support in the war against Russia.

Yet, none of the federal government’s three most powerful and influential – Biden, Blinken and Austin – have even hinted at what dangerous and possibly fatal consequences could evolve from the border invasion. In October alone, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 100 Syrians and 50 Iranians. During the one-week period from October 8 to October 14, CBP arrested six Iranians, three Lebanese, one Egyptian and one Saudi Arabian trying to cross the Rio Grande River in the Del Rio Sector, which includes besieged Eagle Pass. Because of ongoing terrorism, instability and anti-American sentiments in the region, Syria and Iran are currently listed under State Department Level Four Travel Advisories: DO NOT TRAVEL. Adding to the homeland’s risk from Middle Eastern nationals who may harbor terrorist intentions is the growing number of what CBP refers to as “known gotaways,” 23,000 during October’s first three weeks, or about 1,000 per day.

Eli Crane, an Arizona U.S. representative whose 2nd congressional district includes portions of Maricopa and Pinal counties which have experienced a steady inflow of illegal aliens, is on the invasion’s front line. Noting that about 280 people on the FBI terrorist watch list have been apprehended at the border, Crane wrote in a “Newsweek” op-ed, “If you don’t think there are any lone wolves or terrorist cells that have come in through that wide open border, you’re a fool.”

To ignore the obvious risks that open borders present, and at the same time vigorously promote and magnanimously underwrite Ukraine’s defense of its border against Russia, insults all Americans, proving Biden’s contempt for Americans.

This entry was posted in Posts, Project for Immigration Reform and tagged CB, Lloyd Austin, Mike Johnson, Tony Blinken, Ukraine.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.

Only ‘A Fool’ Wouldn’t Expect Terrorism At Open Border

Bounty Put on Customs and Border Patrol Agents

By Joe Guzzardi

Recently, San Diego’s Customs and Border Protection officials issued an intelligence notice alerting its agents that “Hamas and Hezbollah militants may potentially be encountered at the Southwest border.”

The memorandum added, in part: “Individuals inspired by, or reacting to, the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border.” The intel document showed various insignias associated with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups. The document also informed CBP personnel to be vigilant of young men wearing military gear and traveling alone. CBP’s alert coincides with San Diego’s latest border encounters data that show a dramatic increase; September 2023’s 26,000 encounters reflect a 67 percent increase from last year’s 15,000.

From the view of the cartels and coyotes, nothing has been better for their multibillion-dollar businesses than the Israel-Gaza war. As little attention as Biden has paid to border enforcement during his presidency’s three years, the Middle East warfare has pushed Southwest security completely out of the White House’s line of vision. Potential terrorists are well-aware that the border is open. They know that now is the ideal time to take further advantage and ratchet up crossings.

Through the 12 months ending October 21, 169 people on the FBI terror watch lists were encountered between southern border ports of entry, a number that exceeds not only fiscal year 2022’s record-setting total, 98, but the last six fiscal years combined. With encounters between ports at the northern border included, the total for fiscal year 2023 was 172.

Ample evidence exists that terrorists are already present, and plotting. U.S. Customs and Border Protection warned agents that someone who is planning to torture, if not murder, them is looking for their addresses. One text that CBP intercepted read: “We will pay for any addresses of border patrol agents!!”

The sender offered to pay $200 for an agent’s address and $1,000 for “they mommas [sic] address.” Another message read, “I’ll post us torturing any bp agent u send.” Perhaps the texts, a federal felony, are a hoax; no one knows. The FBI, as is its practice, will neither confirm nor deny that an investigation to locate the sender is in progress. But if and when a probe gets underway, the FBI should have little trouble pinpointing the source. When motivated, the FBI operates with peak efficiency. The Department of Justice has, for example, identified and charged nearly 1,200 people who participated in the January 6 protest, the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history.

With the loss of life mounting in Israel and Gaza, and hostages’ fates unknown, the Biden administration is focused exclusively on the Middle East. And on the domestic front, the administration is focused on appeasing Israeli and Palestinian supporters. But the invasion of the U.S. continues, and more migrants are on the way. In September alone, more than 75,000 migrants crossed the roadless Darién Gap jungle on foot, the second-highest monthly tally recorded by Panamanian officials, only a few thousand less than the 82,000 reported August crossings.

In total, more than 400,000 U.S.-bound migrants, many of them Venezuelans, have crossed the treacherous jungle route this year to enter Central America, a record and once-unimaginable number. Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s ambassador to the U.S., called illegal immigration through the Darién Gap “an unsustainable crisis” that poses serious safety risks to all who attempt the trip.

Murillo added, disingenuously, that Colombia and the U.S. are working together to dissuade those who contemplate the dangerous journey from taking their first step. Truth be told, Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s left-wing president, has said his government will not physically stop illegal aliens from entering the jungle. He argued instead that migration must be dealt with in a humanitarian way – translation, no impediments to the journey further north. The U.S., for its part, has imposed no deterrents to stop the invasion.

Biden’s criminal disregard for breaking immigration laws ensures either bad or tragic results. The bad – crime, bankrupt communities, a lost America – is terrible. The worst, an attack on the homeland, is unthinkable.

Joe Guzzardi is a Project for Immigration Reform analysts who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org.

Bounty Put on Customs and Border Patrol Agents