Terror, The Border & Guns

The world watched in horror as Hamas terrorists flooded across Israel’s border with Gaza, massacring and raping civilians, burning homes, engaging hastily organized Israeli resistance and taking hostages. The tragic events of that day have dominated the worldwide media and for good reason. Once again, we have seen the reality of a hateful ideology rear its head. All the while, though, a stealthier invasion is taking place closer to home.

According to the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), a record number of individuals on the FBI’s Terror Screening Dataset, better known as the “terror watch list,” have been encountered “between ports of entry” at both the southern and northern borders of the United States. As of mid-October, 169 individuals on the terror watch list were encountered by U.S. officials as they attempted to enter the nation illegally. Additionally, there were 564 encounters with suspected terrorists at U.S. ports of entry. These figures only represent the individuals who were identified, not the unknown number that crossed successfully through our borders.

Most of the ports of entry encounters were at the northern border, where there has been more than a 20,000-percent increase in land encounters since President Biden took his oath of office. Among that staggering figure are thousands of “special interest aliens” originating from Middle Eastern nations. CBP data shows that, over the past two years, agents encountered 6,386 nationals from Afghanistan, 3,153 from Egypt, 1,613 from Pakistan, 659 from Iran, 538 from Syria and 123 from Iraq. Again, these are the individuals that we know about.

In the wake of the Hamas invasion of Israel, we learned of extraordinary examples of heroism, where armed Israelis took on their attackers and defended their homeland. The Israeli government responded by ordering thousands of firearms with which to arm its residents, recognizing that they are the nation’s first line of defense. One might think that our own leaders would see those examples of individual valor and conclude that attempting to disarm our population in the wake of a mass-migration of suspected terrorists might be a bad idea. Unfortunately, the contrary is true. Just recently, President Biden repeated his familiar sound bite: A call for a ban on America’s most popular firearms.

Our President’s policies have failed to seal the border, resulting in an unprecedented flood of unknown individuals into our nation. Many, probably most, of these people are simply seeking a better life for their families. Some though, may have more sinister intentions. If we are to draw any lessons from the recent events in Israel, it is that terrorist threats are real and that we, the people, are the ones who need to be prepared to act if called upon. Robbing us of the appropriate means to respond is not leadership.