It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.
Do We Still Need Our Armed Forces When We Don’t Secure Our Own Borders?
Benjamin Franklin, in discussing our then fledgeling nation, said that they had given us a republic if we could keep it!
What he was making clear was that this democratic republic required that its citizens take their citizenship seriously and keep the political leaders accountable.
It is time for the citizens of our nation to make certain that our nation’s leaders, on all levels, to come to terms with the fundamental fact that the purpose of our immigration laws is to protect our nation and our citizens from aliens whose presence has the potential to have a serious adverse impact. Ignoring those laws exposes our nation and our citizens to a variety of serious threats and challenges ranging from national security and criminal justice and public safety to the economy, the environment, healthcare and education!
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!
For far too long our citizens demonstrated apathy which emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups.
I am encouraged that more and more of us, We the People, are not willing to simply sit on the sidelines anymore!
If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
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On March 21, 2012, the House Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Congressman Peter King, held a hearing titled “Iran, Hezbollah, and the Threat to the Homeland.” According to a subsequent Huffington Post article, King stated that “there may be hundreds of Hezbollah operatives in the United States.”
As the United States continues to face the potential of terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, Hezbollah posing a growing threat. The Huffington Post article states:
“As Iran moves closer to nuclear weapons and there is increasing concern over war between Iran and Israel, we must also focus on Iran’s secret operatives and their number one terrorist proxy force, Hezbollah, which we know is in America,” said New York Rep. Peter King at a Wednesday hearing of his committee.”
The hearing follows a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington, D.C., and testimony by the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that Iran’s leaders are “more willing to conduct an attack inside the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.”
Iranians shock troops that live in South America and immerse themselves in the language and culture of Latin America could easily run our porous border and take a mundane job while they await instructions calling them to action against the U.S.
In January 1993, a Pakistani national, Mir Kansi stood outside CIA Headquarters with an AK-47 and opened fire. When the smoke dissipated, two CIA officers lay dead and three others were seriously wounded. Kansi, who initially fled the United States was captured and made to stand trial in the United States. He was found guilty and executed. If was determined that he had previously lied on his application for political asylum. Had this fraud been detected and Kansi deported, those officers would be alive and well today.
Just one month later, a bomb-laden truck was detonated under the World Trade Center. The blast killed six victims, wounded hundreds and nearly brought one of the towers down sideways. This attack was also carried out by alien terrorists who gamed the visa and immigration systems so they could enter and remain in the U.S. as they prepared for the attack.
The attacks of 9/11 were committed by foreign terrorists in the U.S. illegally. In fact, the 9/11 Commission found that of 94 terrorists identified as operating in our country in the decade leading up to 9/11, two thirds committed visa fraud and/or immigration fraud.
Clearly, failures of the immigration system have been linked to previous terrorist attacks and yet the vulnerabilities remain. Ironically, President Obama gave a speech at Disney World recently calling for streamlining the Visa process for aliens from China and Brazil saying that his goal was to cut the waiting time for visas by 40 percent.
There is an inverse proportion between speed and accuracy; the faster a task must be accomplished, the more likely that errors will be made. Errors in this process can provide criminals and terrorists access to our nation. Now apparently there will be even more pressure brought to bear to move the applications at warp speed! It is easier and far quicker to approve these applications than deny them.
While most of the terrorists who have sought to or successfully attacked our nation were admitted by committing visa fraud or overstaying the terms of their admission, they weren’t taken into custody and nothing of consequence has been done to plug this gaping hole in the system.
The time has come for our government to try a novel approach – connect the dots and take appropriate actions before there is another terrorist attack!