America's Talking - House Committee: Biden Administration Policies Empower Cartels, Undermine National Security

Episode Date: October 21, 2023

Republican members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security say they are continuing to produce evidence to support their claim that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is derelict in his duty and should be removed from office. In July, the committee published its first report detailing the laws and court orders the committee says Mayorkas has “ignored, abused or failed to follow.” Members cite alleged violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), including an abuse of its parole program, detention and removal requirements, instituting mass parole programs, ignoring federal court orders, among other actions. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/america-in-focus/support Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAulb, executive editor of the Center Square Newswire Service. Joining me again today is the Center Square's Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief Casey Harper, as war rages in the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and of course you've got the ongoing now nearly two-year war between Russia and Ukraine, there are heightened concerns of the potential for domestic terrorism. here in the United States. Since President Joe Biden took office and changed drastically changed immigration policy in the United States, there are concerns that individuals from some of these countries abroad, including Iran, China, et cetera, have made their way across the U.S. border into the U.S. The State Department issued an alert for Americans traveling overseas because of what's going on over there. But increasingly, we're here.

hearing more concerns about what could happen domestically. More than 8 million people have been encountered trying to enter the United States, both at the northern and the southern borders, from more than 160 countries across the world. There's been more than 2 million gotaways, the phrase that border patrol uses for those people who successfully get into the U.S. and are not apprehended, don't know who they are, where they're from, etc. Both President Biden and the FBI director Christopher Ray have said in the past week that the U.S. is on heightened terrorist alert. What do we make all this? Yeah, I mean, we make that it's a real issue and a real concern and something that a lot of people have been talking about for a long time,

but it's been totally ignored. But now, as you said, this Israel-Hum-S conflict has put a new spotlight on terrorism. We've seen that even an highly fortified nation like Israel, they have a giant fence, They have a very kind of vigilant military structure, and they're always looking. They are expecting attacks, right, especially from that region that they received them from. And yet they still weren't able to stop basically, you know, well over a thousand people from being kidnapped, killed, attacked by these militants who kind of just came in. And so it's like, wait, wait a minute, could this happen in the U.S. And that's kind of the question of the American mind right now. And the answer is like, well, maybe. And so some of our officials have said some pretty unsettling things. You referenced President Joe Biden. He said in a 60 minutes interview flat out that the conflict in the Middle East has increased the risk of terror in the United States. So he just said yes to that. And then you mentioned Ray, Christopher Ray, FBI director. He also has said that terrorist threat is more likely to occur right now. And,

You know, we've written a lot about the border and what's going on there. You've mentioned the millions of people and there might be terrorists coming in. I would just say there definitely are terrorists who have come into the country, people with links to terrorism. It's just a really undisputed fact at this point. The only question is how many, how many are there? Because we know that there's been hundreds of people on the terror watch list who have been caught. More than 600 in the past, in the last fiscal year alone were at. apprehended trying to enter the U.S. through either the northern or southern borders.

And what's not known is how many gotaways, how many those people who successfully evaded capture got into the country without being apprehended, how many of them are on the terror watch list? Right. And that assumes, you know, really wrongly, that we know who terrorists are always. Right. I mean, how many, you know, sometimes when there's a school shooting, for instance, There were signs and the FBI was monitoring that person. But just as often, it may be more often, everyone says, wow, this came out of nowhere. This was such a good kid. So it's just as possible that some of the people coming over who are not raising any red flags have actually been radicalized.

They've coming from over 160 nations. So I think it's still in the American mind that people coming across the southern border are from, like, you know, Mexico and Ecuador or something. But that's just not the case. And they also come across the northern border. very high rates as well, the number of terrorists caught at the northern border, and the Trump administration was even higher, I believe, than the southern border, right? And so you've made this point before, too, Dan. So this just shows you, I mean, for everyone that's caught, there's got to be a certain percentage that's not caught. So it might be that for everyone that's caught,

there's one that's not caught, or for every two that's caught, there's one that's not caught. But regardless, they're getting in, and the FBI director of the president is saying, yeah, terrorism is a bigger threat. There's no real plans to close the border right now, no big plans to drastically increase some kind of enforcement or security at the southern border in a way that's probably really going to address this problem. We know, you know, you talked about Iran, but, you know, Iran's leaders, the same ones who are gleefully funding Hamas, they chant death to America, right? I mean, they see destroying America as not as important as destroying Israel, but it's definitely on the top five bucket list, Dan, for these guys.

And of course, you've seen protests, significant protests across the U.S., many of them pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas protests on college campuses in major cities. You know, New York City, a pro-Palestinian group essentially swarmed a congressional building in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill earlier this week. They were all arrested. So who knows what's going to happen next? I do think Americans need to be on heightened alert. The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security has been investigating the border crisis for a couple of years now.

In three recent reports, the committee citing the Center Square's border reporting, puts the blame squarely on the Biden administration, more specifically Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas. So they continue to investigate what's going on with the border and the need for better border security. And just the heightened tensions in the Middle East exacerbate the problem. Closing comments, Casey. I would just say, you know, I keep wanting to talk to an expert or find someone who says,

oh, you're overblowing it. You're being a little bit dramatic. Casey, don't worry too much about this. But I'm finding the opposite, which is the more you look into it, the worse it gets. And a few weeks ago, I talked to Lori's former acting head of the Department of Homeland Security for a story on this same topic. And she basically backed up much of what we're saying and said, you know, that this is very serious and seemingly kind of scary. And she pointed out, I didn't bring this up, but she pointed out that it only took a few, just a handful of terrorists to pull off 9-11. And we're letting far more than that into the U.S. every day.

And this is a former head of DHS saying this to me. Well, I appreciate your insights. end of this important story. Casey Americans should be on the alert, particularly those who are traveling abroad, but certainly here domestically as well. Listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecentersquare.com.

For Casey Harper, I'm Dan McAulip. Please subscribe, and thanks for listening.