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
