On 9/11, Republicans Warn About Lingering Danger From Biden’s ‘Open-Border Policies’

While urging Americans to remember the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, top Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee are urging vigilance over threats facing the country due to “open-border policies” pushed during the Biden administration. 

The lawmakers are calling for a resolute commitment to border security after a massive surge in individuals on the terror watchlist crossing the border under former President Joe Biden. The lawmakers praised the Trump administration for its actions to lockdown the border. 

“As a lifelong New Yorker, ‘Never Forget’ is more than a phrase of remembrance for me; it is a call to action,” committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) told The Daily Wire. “Today, as we honor the nearly 3,000 innocent lives taken by al Qaeda terrorists on 9/11, we also reaffirm our commitment to DHS’s core counterterrorism mission. Our nation still faces heightened and evolving threats more than two decades after 9/11, particularly following four years of open-border policies.”

From the start of fiscal year 2021 to the end of Biden’s presidency, border patrol agents encountered around 400 individuals on the terror watchlist at the border. At least 2 million illegals who were known “gotaways” entered the country in that same period. From 2017-2020, only 14 individuals on the terror watchlist were apprehended at the border, according to the committee. 

These threats have come from a variety of countries. It was previously reported that Biden released into the country around 50% of the 1,504 Iranian nationals who were stopped at the border during his presidency. Over the summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Tajikistani national suspected of being a member of al Qaeda. The man crossed the border and was released under Biden. 

Garbarino will be leading a visit of Homeland Security members to Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum on Thursday. He praised the work of federal, state, and local law enforcement to protect American communities. 

“These brave men and women deserve our continued support as they put their lives on the line every day. Alongside the Trump administration, the House Committee on Homeland Security is working to keep our borders secure for years to come — because border security is national security,” he said. 

Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger told The Daily Wire that the Biden administration’s “reckless open-border policies” led to “blinking red” danger to our security. 

“While President Trump’s Administration has taken strong, decisive action to identify and deport many of these individuals, an unsettling truth remains, we still don’t know how many terrorists may have slipped through the cracks under President Biden’s watch and are now living among us,” he said.