The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | July 10th, 2024: ISIS Threats At US Border Intensify & Iran's Covert Ties To US Anti-Israel Protests

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin:    A disturbing report has revealed that hundreds of migrants from an ISIS recruiting hotbed have poured over the U.S. southern border so far this year, and the Biden administration is struggling to contain the threat.  The Iranian government has been covertly encouraging and even funding anti-Israel protests in America in an effort to sway public opinion and sow division ahead of the U.S. presidential election. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin.  Email: [e-mail] ☕ Blackout Coffee: https://www.blackoutcoffee.com/PDB Code: PDB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, a disturbing report has revealed that hundreds of migrants from an ISIS recruiting hotbed have crossed over the U.S. Southern borders so far this year, and the Biden administration, well, they're reportedly struggling to contain the threat. Also, the Iranian government has been covertly encouraging and even funding anti-Israel protests in America in an effort to sway public opinion, and so division ahead of the U.S. presidential election. What? Why, you mean those campus protests? I thought they were just kids being kids. Nah, just kidding. Of course there were outside activists and agitators, including the Iranian regime, funding, organizing, and encouraging the useful idiots.

But first, our afternoon spotlight. I want to begin in the U.S. with an update on America's southern border, where threats from foreign terrorists are reportedly mounting. According to an exclusive report from the New York Post. The Biden administration is struggling to contain illegal migration from Tajikistan, a known hotbed for recruitment by the Islamic State. Now, this is not a theoretical threat, as we learned last month when authorities in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia arrested eight migrants from Tajikistan with suspected ties to ISIS in a series of coordinated sting operations. All eight men crossed through the southern border over the past year, after being vetted and released under Biden-era immigration policies.

Okay, they weren't really vetted. Thurrow vetting is not something that's being done at the border. Following the bust, immigration and custom enforcement officers, ICE, reportedly received orders to detain any migrants from Tajikistan, caught at the border, and to halt any processing that would allow them to be released. If there is a case where officials feel the migrant should be granted entry, while they must first be interviewed by intelligence officials with the Department of Homeland Security. The orders add Tajikistan to ISIS' list of, quote, heightened threat-level countries.

Any migrants hailing from these countries must undergo a security review before being released. Now, while the new measures are certainly welcome, given the national security threat, records show that it, frankly, may be too little too late. It would also be nice to have ICE explain the specifics of this. this new improved security review and vetting process. Leaked border data obtained by the post reveals that more than 1,500 Tajik migrants cross the U.S. border between October 2020 and May 24, with at least 500 being apprehended just this year. Now, to put that into perspective, over the previous 14 years, only 26 Tajik migrants were caught attempting to cross the border.

Tom Holman, a former acting director of ICE under President Trump, told the post, quote, it seems like the damage is already done. I appreciate that they're trying to do what they can after the fact. The bottom line is, if they would turn on the former Trump policies, secure the border, and catch and release, they'd be a hell of a lot safer, end quote. We should note, despite the figures cited by the post, we have no real idea of how many Tajik migrants have been released into the U.S. under Biden administration policies. Until President Biden ordered a crackdown on asylum requests last month, most migrants were released into the U.S. with orders to appear at court at a later date.

We'll see you whenever. Former ICE officials who spoke with the Post said such policies mean most of these migrants will disappear like ghosts into the U.S., with little to no available records attached to them. Tracking them down will be next to impossible. Charles Marino, a former senior advisor at the Department of Homeland Security, told the post, quote, the rule of thumb under this administration is to let everybody into the country and then attempt to vet them after the fact. That flies in the face of common sense, end quote.

As we've been covering on the PDB, federal officials have been warning that terrorist networks are leveraging our border policies to infiltrate the U.S. late last month, officials said they identified more than 400 migrants inside the U.S. who were brought over the border by a human smuggling network with ties to ISIS. Disturbingly, while authorities have arrested roughly 150 of these migrants and are monitoring others, the whereabouts of roughly 50 of them remain unknown, though they're believed to be spread out across 17 states, which really narrows it down. FBI direct Christopher Ray has also been sounding the alarm for months, about the looming threat of an attack on American soil.

In early June, Ray told Congress that he was, quote, hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once, end quote. All right, coming up after the break, we'll look at reports that the Iranian government has been covertly encouraging and funding anti-Israel protests in America in an effort to sow division ahead of the U.S. presidential election. I'll be right back. story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. Some interesting, but not surprising news about the anti-Israel protests that we're still seeing across the country.

According to the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haynes, the U.S. intelligence community has uncovered efforts by the Iranian government to exploit ongoing protests related to the Gaza conflict. In a press release published yesterday, Haynes outlined these activities from Iran, noting that Iranian agents posing as activists aimed to influence American public opinion and so division ahead of the presidential election. Well, to be fair, who isn't attempting to sow division these days? Haines said that the U.S. intelligence community as, quote, observed actors tied to Iran's government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage protests and even providing financial support to protesters, end quote. Now, Haynes didn't give any specifics

as to what that financial support consisted of. Haynes revealed that Iranian government actors are opportunistically leveraging protests over the war in Gaza to their advantage, of course they are, employing tactics seen in previous influence campaigns. She added that, quote, Americans who are being targeted by this Iranian campaign may not be aware that they're interacting with

or receiving support from a foreign government, end quote. New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a similar warning back in April during anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, noting that some individuals aim to aggravate the situation and spark violence. For months, the Biden administration has internally discussed the possibility of foreign actors inciting discord. As the election approaches, the administration confirms the intelligence community will issue updates on such threats to inform the public and to safeguard democratic processes. Despite identifying the threat, notably absent from Haynes and the Biden administration,

was any mention of measures that the government is taking to counteract Iranian meddling, such as shutting down bank accounts or social media profiles used by these various actors. After all, it's one thing to recognize that outside actors are working to create chaos, confusion, and instability within the U.S. It's entirely another to get proactive in taking aggressive action against the state and non-state actors involved. It's important to advise the American public, of course it is, to arm them with understanding as to who's engaged in disinformation campaigns and how, but targeted action against those responsible is also required. And that, my friends,

is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday, 10 July. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com. And if you want to listen to the show ad-free, well, be sure to check out our premium membership at PDBPremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool. Not loving your AT&T or T Mobile Bill. Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot. Good news.

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