(By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) The former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Trump administration says the Biden administration’s border policies are creating a national security threat that are “almost treasonous.”
Tom Homan made the claim as U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operation agents have so far apprehended 332 known or suspected terrorists this fiscal year to date. This includes 125 caught at the southern border and 207 at the northern border.
It’s the unknown that keeps Homan and others in law enforcement up at night, he said.
At a recent town hall event in El Paso organized by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Homan spoke on a panel expressing his fear that another terrorist attack against Americans could occur as a direct result of Biden administration policies.
“This administration has created such a crisis that it’s not about immigration anymore. It’s about border security,” he said. “When you cause a crisis this big and take 70% of agents off the line, that makes the border vulnerable.”
With the public health authority Title 42’s end and more people entering the U.S., more agents are pulled off the line, making the border more vulnerable, Homan said. “That means more fentanyl is coming across to kill more Americans. That means more women and children will be trafficked across that border,” he said. “That means more migrants are going to die. That means more known, suspected terrorists are going to cross that border.”
“What’s happening is the greatest national security threat since 9/11,” he continued. “Border Patrol has arrested people from 171 countries. Many of these countries are sponsors of terrorism.”
Homan also pointed to the record number of gotaways, those who’ve illegally entered the U.S. and evaded capture by law enforcement, which total over 1.7 million reported by Border Patrol agents since the president’s been in office.
“If you don’t think a single one of the 1.7 million is coming from a country that sponsors terrorism, then you’re ignoring the data,” he said. “That’s what makes this a huge national security issue.”
The Biden administration has maintained the border is closed while also expanding entry through the use of a CBPOne App, opening asylum offices overseas, and sending thousands of federal employees to the border to “scale up processing efforts.”
And while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed Trump administration policies were inhumane, Homan argues Biden administration policies are inhumane.
“People in this administration think its policies are humane,” Homan said, “but they’re killing Americans in record numbers. They’re killing migrants in record numbers. Since Joe Biden’s been president, over 1,700 migrants have died on US soil.”
What’s happening isn’t “mismanagement,” he said. “This isn’t incompetence. This is by design. They ran on open border policies.
“This is about public safety and national security. Mark my words, I don’t know how many terrorist have come across the border but some day we’re going to find out and it will be a bad day for this country.”
Homan said the Biden administration was facilitating millions of people coming to the U.S. illegally and going to so-called sanctuary cities on purpose.
“The millions of people heading to sanctuary cities will be counted in the next census,” he said. When seats are apportioned for Congress, he said, “that’s going to create more seats in Congress for Democrats. They sold this country out. It’s almost treasonous.”
