OPINION:
Images of innocent Israelis struggling to grasp the reality of the Hamas-wrought horror unfolding before their eyes triggers 9/11 flashbacks. Many who have spent a generation trying to forget that day may recognize President Biden’s faulty leadership is opening the nation to the possibility of another terrorist attack on our shores.
Particular incidents suggest the nation has been more lucky than secure. For one, Lebanese Muslim sleeper agents were sent to U.S. cities by Hamas-allied Hezbollah, according to national-security journalist Todd Bensman, who has for years chronicled the border’s vulnerabilities.
The terrorist-manned Unit 910, tasked with stockpiling weapons and compiling assassination targets, came to light through federal prosecution of two defendants in 2019, when vetting was more robust. With thousands now crossing the border daily, there’s no way to know whether more terror operatives are secreted among them.
An additional gaping hole in Mr. Biden’s border-security procedures is exposed with the case of one Jordano Gotopo-Lopez, convicted in 2006 of murder in Venezuela, according to Center for Immigration Studies fellow Andrew Arthur. Gotopo-Lopez crossed the southern border on July 31 at Eagle Pass, Texas. He was instructed to appear at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office but did not. Fortunately, he was arrested on Oct. 27 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Such nefarious individuals who land on U.S. soil endanger the nation because, according to U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II of the Northern District of Florida, the Department of Homeland Security “has no way to determine if an alien has a criminal history in his home country unless that country reports the information to the U.S. government or the alien self-reports.”
It’s maddeningly difficult to quantify the extent of the penetration of the nearly 2,000-mile southern border, but most recent estimates of foreign nationals crossing into the United States illegally since Mr. Biden took office place the number at about 10 million. It is the largest immigrant influx of any U.S. presidency.
Fiscal 2023, which ended Oct. 31, logged a record 3.2 million apprehensions, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, bringing the Biden administration’s total to 8.4 million. Adding an estimated 1.7 million “gotaways” puts the finishing touches on the skyscraping figure. Authorities have not allowed everyone to remain, but overflowing shelters in major U.S. cities indicate only a fraction have been turned away.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas persistently attributes the border chaos to a “broken immigration system,” a position he reiterated Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee. After canceling former President Donald Trump’s border-security measures, Mr. Biden now wants $14 billion for border enhancements, leaving no doubt who is responsible for breaking the system.
Authorities caught a record 169 people on the terror watchlist in fiscal 2023, but enemies of the U.S. are no more likely to report inbound terrorists than evildoers are to self-report.
Thanks to Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and President Biden’s failure to secure the border, the natural compassion Americans feel for anyone seeking a better life must be tempered with apprehension over the resurrection of terrorism and the danger of another deadly attack on our country.
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