OPINION:
The open-door border policies supported by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, that have undermined American workers have also opened the door to terrorist attacks in America. By selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Ms. Harris is making clear that national security and job security for American workers are not priorities for her or the Democratic Party.
A new report found that nearly 100 illegal immigrants on the terror watchlist were released into the U.S. under the Biden-Harris administration. Reports like this as well as statements by administration officials and others underscore that the terrorism threat is real and we are no safer, possibly less safe, than before 9/11 because of our porous border.
Unfortunately, those intent on causing harm to Americans are taking advantage of this administration’s border policies. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas refuses to say we are safer now than before 9/11. FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress of a growing fear among law enforcement of a “coordinated attack” in the United States.
A Navy admiral said that attempts by foreign nationals to infiltrate U.S. military bases are becoming common. Highlighting this is a May incident in which two Jordanians allegedly attempted to enter Marine Corps Base Quantico. They were released on bail and are free to roam the country.
In June, eight suspected Islamic State group members from Tajikistan were arrested in three major U.S. cities after crossing the southern border illegally. Four Islamic State group members from Tajikistan killed nearly 150 people in a Moscow terror attack in March. This was followed by news that the Department of Homeland Security has identified over 400 people who crossed into the United States illegally after being brought to the border by an Islamic State group-affiliated human smuggling operation, and more than 50 remain at large.
Almost all of those entering the U.S. under this administration’s abuse of the immigration parole program are economic migrants, not legitimate asylum-seekers. They are inadmissible aliens who have no legal right to enter, reside or work in this country. Yet they are “paroled” in, and with them come those who would harm the United States.
Patrick Lechleitner, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said: “We have individuals that are coming across [the border and] … sometimes there’s just no information on individuals. It’s quite common where there’s just nothing.”
What he neglected to say is that despite this lack of information, the administration is releasing them into the interior. Mr. Lechleitner indicated if something “pops up later,” ICE then tries to track these people down. This approach of “let them in and check later” is no way to approach national security.
A DHS inspector general’s investigation confirms that DHS is struggling to effectively screen and vet noncitizens entering the U.S. illegally due to the volume of crossings. The release of inadmissible aliens into the U.S. despite the lack of accurate information about them encourages more to come to the border. In response, the administration asks for more funds to speed up processing times. The circle of doom continues to spiral downward.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens has raised alarms about the number of migrants who have evaded capture and entered the country in the past five months without even a cursory inspection by Border Patrol. While his agency is on track for 2 million apprehensions by the end of the year, Mr. Owens said, “What’s keeping me up at night is the 140,000 known gotaways.” Note that he was referring to the numbers for just the previous five months. That total number has reached 1.9 million under the Biden-Harris administration.
President Biden’s executive proclamation to force the use of the Senate bill that did not reach a vote in the Democratic-controlled chamber is not stopping illegal entry but instead making it the status quo. Mr. Biden’s new policies “temporarily suspend the entry of migrants across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days” while still excluding most illegal border crossers from that count.
Border encounters are down not because of tougher enforcement; it’s because the administration is claiming that those who are paroled into the country or use the CBP One app to come into the country through ports of entry are taking advantage of “new lawful pathways” — pathways created not by Congress but by executive policy.
If Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris wanted to seriously address the border crisis, they would have supported the Secure the Border Act, which would close asylum loopholes, end “catch and release,” prevent the abuse of humanitarian parole and establish universal E-Verify to remove the economic incentive to illegal immigration. Neither Mr. Biden nor Ms. Harris has acknowledged that this bill passed the House of Representatives in May 2023 and received more votes in the Senate than the fatally flawed “zombie” bill he keeps touting as the “toughest enforcement bill ever.”
Every day the Biden-Harris administration refuses to act, our country becomes more vulnerable. It is the White House’s chief duty to protect our homeland and to rectify the chaos they unleashed through their open border policies. The clear and present danger due to an unsecured border must not be ignored by this administration or the next.
• James Massa is the CEO of NumbersUSA, America’s largest single-issue advocacy group, which has over 8 million supporters.
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