Our Border and the Gotaways

Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration released a report that said that the two worst Mexican drug cartels are operating in all fifty states and are fighting each other for control of the drug trade in several U.S. cities. The DEA said that we are enduring the worst drug crisis in U.S. history.

This is yet another byproduct of President Biden’s open border policy.

According to the DEA report, “The deadly reach of the Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels into U.S. communities is extended by the wholesale-level traffickers and street dealers bringing the cartels’ drugs to market, sometimes creating their own deadly drug mixtures … Together, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have caused the worst drug crisis in U.S. history.” (READ MORE from Jed Babbin: Biden’s Bogus Executive Privilege Claim)

But it’s worse than that — far worse — because that report tells only a fraction of the story.

The Mexican drug cartels control many of the people who smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S. About seven million have come into the U.S. during Biden’s presidency, been “arrested,” and released into the nation since Biden was inaugurated. That doesn’t count the “gotaways,” who number about an additional two million, who slipped through our open borders and managed to evade the Border Patrol altogether.

The “gotaways” are comprised of drug smugglers and others who are eager and able to commit crimes against Americans and America itself. Forget the drug smugglers and other criminals for a moment. Let’s concentrate on the dangers of terrorists — Islamic jihadis — coming into the country.

There is an area in South America where Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil share borders. In this Tri-Border Area (TBA) there is a very large Shiite Muslim population. According to my research, since the mid-1980s Hizballah – the “Party of God” controlled by Iran – has been recruiting operatives and adherents in the TBA.

Pretty much every other Islamic terrorist group is also present there and in other parts of South America: Al-Qaida, ISIS, Hamas, and essentially all the other terrorist networks we have come to know since 9-11.  The TBA is a convenient area for them to gather and recruit more terrorists.

Moreover, these terrorist groups have gained success as far north as Venezuela. Last September, Biden granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who are already in the US, enabling them to get work permits.

In 1994 Hizballah, following Iran’s orders, attacked the Argentine-Israel Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. They killed at least 85 people and injured another 300. They, and the others, have not been idle since then. It is absurd to believe these groups are smuggling people into our country and not planning attacks on the U.S.

According to a report by the American Military University, many Muslim terrorist organizations, including Hizballah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda, have a strong presence in South America. They are particularly active in the Tri-Border Area (TBA), the region where Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet.” [Please note that the AMU report, essentially a government document, uses the bowdlerized version of “Hizballah,” i.e., “Hezbollah.”]

The AMU report goes on to say, “The most active group is Hezbollah with its contacts and support from the Iranian regime. The support of the Iranian government and Hezbollah’s relationship to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the IRGC-Quds Force make Hezbollah an exceptionally powerful and dangerous adversary.”

Which brings us back to the “gotaways.” The terrorists can pay the Mexican cartels to smuggle their jihadis into the U.S. and into our cities. The FBI is certainly trying to detect these attackers but the convenience of the Mexican cartels mean that the FBI’s intelligence information is almost certainly not good enough to stop their planned attacks.

The mystery is why none of the “gotaway” jihadis have yet made attacks on this country. What are they waiting for? As the 9-11 attacks, which took months or years to prepare, proved these terrorist networks can be enormously patient. (READ MORE: Biden Wants Hamas ‘Refugees’)

There is some scant evidence that people — possibly terrorists — are testing some of our defenses.

On May 3, two Jordanian men attempted to gain access to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. When they were apprehended, they claimed to be delivering goods for a subcontractor to Amazon. Both were in the U.S. illegally, one of them having overstayed his student visa.

That attempt alone proves nothing but the growing frequency of such attempted penetrations does. Last week, U.S. Fleet Forces Command boss Admiral Daryl Caudle told a Fox News interviewer that attempted penetrations of military bases by foreign nationals “is happening more and more. This is something we see probably two or three times a week, where we’re stopping these folks at the gate.” Those foreign nationals come from all different nations and many times have passports and papers according to that Fox News report. Those passports and papers are likely forged.

It’s pretty obvious that terrorists who have entered the U.S. over Biden’s open borders are testing our vulnerabilities. They can, I suspect, find many small ones and a few big ones. When they can coordinate attacks on them, we will lose dozens — perhaps hundreds or thousands — of American lives.

Foreign leaders around the world — both ally and enemy — must wonder at how stupid we are for letting just anyone cross our borders. It is simply amazing.

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