Jim Hartman: Terror threat at ‘whole other level’

The FBI is worried that Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel and slaughter of 1,400 Israeli civilians will serve as a rallying cry for additional terrorist attacks on the West, including against Americans.

On Oct. 31, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned the threat of a terror attack against Americans has been raised to a “whole other level” due to the Hamas-Israel war.

“The reality is the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level,” Wray told a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing.

“We assess that the actions of Hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration, the likes of which we haven’t seen since ISIS launched its so-called caliphate in 2014,” Wray said.

Our open southern border is now a national security nightmare.

President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security waited until Saturday morning on Oct. 28 to release September’s disaster story from the southern border.

The “encounter” data prove Biden’s border policies have failed. More migrants were caught crossing the border in September than ever before, and Biden also set the record for a fiscal year at 2.48 million in 2023. That’s compared to 2.38 million in 2022 and 1.73 million in 2021.

That’s a total of 6.59 million “encounters” in the first three years of Biden’s presidency.

Further, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admits an additional 600,000 “gotaways” crossed the border in FY2023. The total number of “gotaways” since Biden took office was 1.7 million.

By contrast, “encounters” were 450,000 in 2020, former President Donald Trump’s final year in office.

The huge jump after Biden took office should be no surprise.

On his first day in office, Biden ended the successful “Remain in Mexico” program, instituted a 100-day moratorium on deportations, and made it nearly impossible for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to deport anyone except the most violent criminals.

This year U.S. border agents have encountered a growing number of individuals on the FBI’s terrorist watch list trying to enter the country via the southern border, according to DHS.

As of July, there were 160 “encounters” with migrants on the terrorist watch list in 2023 vs. 100 in 2022. A DHS official said the increase in 2023 was consistent with the overall increase in migrants crossing the border and “a rising number of migrants coming from areas of conflict.”

War in the Middle East will exponentially increase that number as well as many more entering the country undetected.

Under questioning by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Oct. 31, Mayorkas acknowledged the immigration system to be “broken” and admitted he has proposed nothing in three years to fix the asylum system.

Biden is now proposing a border bailout wish list to Congress attached to money for Ukraine and Israel. It does nothing for border security.

His proposal would spend more on “additional grants to local governments and nonprofits to support the provision of temporary food, shelter and other services for those recently released from DHS custody.”

Biden proposes spending “ for eligible arrivals, including services to successfully resettle in the United States.” And, he wants “expansion of lawful pathways, including efforts to streamline the processing of eligible refugees and migrants.”

There’s nothing in Biden’s plan to slow illegal immigration or to deal with our most immediate concern that violent extremists – individuals or small groups – will enter or have already entered the country through an open border to carry out terrorist attacks against Americans going about their daily lives.

Congress should block Biden’s border-weakening bailout proposal and insist on urgent border security measures recognizing the terror threat now to be at a “whole other level.”

E-mail Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.