(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., warned on Monday that the Taliban was giving known terrorists “visas and passports” and sending them into America via the southern border, the Daily Caller reported.
“We know that people from over 170 countries are now coming across our border,” Waltz said. “The word has gone out that it’s wide open, and if you can just get there and step foot across our border then you can enter into our asylum system, get a workplace, or get a workforce visa and wait 5 to 7 years to maybe show up for court.”
The warning came after Border Patrol agents arrested an Afghan man on the FBI’s terrorist watch list just before the expiration of the pandemic-era Title 42 protections on May 11.
This year alone, Border Patrol agents have arrested 332 known or suspected terrorists who attempted to come into the U.S.
But the new migrant surge is sure to exacerbate even further the national security risk.
Waltz expressed concern that with the release of many terrorists after the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, some inevitably would plan to infiltrate the U.S.
“We have to remember, going back to Afghanistan, there were thousands and thousands of the most hardened ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Taliban fighters released from the prison that was at Bagram,” Waltz said. “One of them was the suicide bomber that killed our 13 Americans at Abbey Gate.”
He also admitted that the American government lost track of many of the terrorists released in Afghanistan.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents encountered record-breaking numbers of illegal immigrants at the southern border in the 2022 fiscal year; 2023 is on pace to break that record with 1.2 million encounters thus far.
The number of “special interest” migrants, or those who frequently cross the border for “nefarious activity,” increased by 600%.
The inaction of the Biden administration was “almost treasonous,” said Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under former President Donald Trump.
“This administration has created such a crisis that it’s not about immigration anymore,” he said.
“It’s about border security,” he added. “When you cause a crisis this big and take 70% of agents off the line, that makes the border vulnerable.”
