From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Former Border Patrol agent asks 23 years after 9/11: What does ‘safe’ mean?

Twenty-three years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans are not any safer than they were before because of a border crisis facilitated by the Biden-Harris administration, national security experts argue.

One U.S. Army veteran who later served as a Border Patrol agent for 10 years but left citing Biden-Harris policies told The Center Square that Americans’ safety and security means something different depending on the administration in charge.

Since fiscal 2021, more than 12.5 million foreign nationals have illegally entered the country under Vice President Kamala Harris, designated the “border czar” by President Joe Biden. That’s by far the greatest number of any administration in U.S. history.

The illegal entries include two million who evaded capture, known as gotaways, alarming those in law enforcement because they say they don’t know who or where they are or how many are connected to countries of foreign concern or state sponsors of terrorism. Several hundred with connections to the Islamic terrorist organization, ISIS, have illegally entered the country, authorities confirmed this year.

Those who’ve been apprehended by U.S. authorities attempting to enter the U.S. include a record number of known or suspected terrorists – more than 1,700 since fiscal 2021. This is the greatest number in U.S. history, and equivalent to nearly two U.S. Army battalions.

The majority of those on the terrorist watch list apprehended by Americans came from Canada, nearly 1,100. They total the equivalent of one U.S. Army battalion.

The administration has “unsecured the border on purpose” and “created the greatest national security threat since 9/11,” Tom Homan, former director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told The Center Square.

The total number of illegal border crossers under Biden-Harris total more than the individual populations of 45 U.S. states, The Center Square reported.

The record number parallels Biden’s stated goal at a North American Summit in Washington, D.C., in 2021 to facilitate more foreign nationals coming to the U.S., The Center Square reported. He also formalized a Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection in 2022 with roughly two dozen countries to facilitate the “safe, orderly migration” of foreign nationals into the U.S. and in other countries.

The terminology has been repeatedly used by Harris and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It’s also been embraced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose agents have been ordered to release illegal foreign nationals into the country through new parole programs and a CBP One app. The programs and app are illegal, multiple states who sued to stop them, argue. Mayorkas was also impeached over them.

Despite Biden, Harris and Mayorkas claims that the border is secure and those being released into the country are being vetted, DHS Office of Inspector General audits prove otherwise. Federal agents can’t find foreign nationals released into U.S. as terrorism threats are heightened, The Center Square reported.

Despite this, Canadian officials have told The Center Square, “The Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world.” Mexico’s outgoing president said Mexico doesn’t have a cartel problem, the U.S. “drug problem” isn’t Mexico’s problem and “we are not going to act as any policemen for any foreign government.”

“The record number of people on the terrorist watchlist coming across the northern border” disproves the “most secure border in the world” claim, Homan said. “What they won’t tell you are the unknown gotaways coming through the northern border.”

Former Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan agrees, adding, “To say that our borders are secure is simply not a factual statement,” he said. “It’s just not. What level of threat is coming across is unknown.”

Morgan, also a retired FBI chief, was among several officials who warned Congress that the volume of single military age men illegally entering the U.S. equates to a “soft invasion” and a terrorist attack is likely imminent but preventable if security measures were put in place.

Ammon Blair, former Border Patrol agent and U.S. Army officer and senior fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said if the border were secure, the number of illegal border crossers would be zero.

He also pushed back on Biden-Harris administration claims about “safe, orderly migration,” saying, “Who would it be safe for? According to Mayorkas, safety means the safe, orderly, humane migration for illegal aliens into the country.”

“What does safe mean, and who are safe?” he asks. “Where are the protection protocols to protect Americans? There aren’t any. The only agency that has a protective order to secure a border is the U.S. military.”

Multiple officials have said there aren’t enough agents to patrol the northern or southwest borders, not to mention other ports of entry along the U.S. coast.

“We don’t have the resources to patrol the border, the technology or manpower,” Blair said. “The capacity to have 100% awareness of the border is astronomical and doesn’t happen with the current system under Department of Homeland Security.”

During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Harris deflected from answering questions about her role as border czar and didn’t say how she’d protect Americans from terrorist threats.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Nick Pope

A woman whose husband was killed in the 9/11 attacks ripped the Biden administration at Ground Zero on Wednesday.

Joanne Barbara, whose firefighter husband Jerry was killed when the South Tower collapsed on that day, made a point of slamming the administration’s attempted plea deals with three suspected 9/11 terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, that would have spared the defendants the death penalty. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin eventually intervened to walk back the deals after the initial news of the plea deals broke and outraged many family members of September 11 victims.

“And my husband, [New York City Fire Department] Chief Gerard A. Barbara. My husband Jerry was a Navy veteran and a member of the FDNY for 31 years. On September 11, 2001, 2,977 innocent people were murdered by radical Islamic terrorists. My husband of 30 years was one of them,” Barbara said at Wednesday’s ceremony in New York City commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “It is outrageous that our government would ever entertain the thought of granting the terrorists a plea deal. If not for the outcry of the 9/11 community, who knows what might have transpired.”

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“It has been 23 years, and the families deserve justice and accountability,” she continued to the applause of onlookers. “The elected officials here today show their respect and reverence to the families on September 11th, or in our president’s words, ‘do 9/11,’ quite a flippant remark. But please remember that the September 11th families live it every day, not just on the anniversary. In conclusion, may God bless those battling post-September 11 illnesses, our first responders and the military here and abroad. May God Bless America, and never forget.”

In her remarks, Barbara referenced a comment that President Joe Biden made to reporters on Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., where he said that he would be “doing 9/11” on Wednesday, likely meaning to communicate that he planned to attend the remembrance ceremony at Ground Zero the next day.

Prominent officials who attended Wednesday’s remembrance ceremony in New York City included former President Donald Trump, Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.