From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Several retired CBP officials have pointed out that not all Canadian border crossers are native-born but include foreign nationals who received Canadian travel documents.

The greatest number of Canadians who’ve illegally entered the U.S. or attempted to illegally enter in recorded U.S. history has been reported under the Biden-Harris administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration.

Since fiscal 2021 through July 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 150,701 Canadians illegally entered or attempted illegal entry into the U.S.

The majority were apprehended at the US-Canada border, followed by other locations nationwide, with a small number at the US-Mexico border, according to the data.

The greatest number of Canadians encountered or apprehended by CBP or Border Patrol agents was 47,126, in fiscal 2022. U.S. officials at the northern border reported the most, 40,600. But Canadians aren’t always apprehended at the northern border. The next greatest number reported was nationwide at 6,413, followed by 113 at the southwest border.

In fiscal 2023, the numbers were slightly less, totaling 44,700, with the majority reported at the northern border of 37,169, followed by 7,431 nationwide and 100 at the southwest border.

These numbers are up significantly from fiscal 2021, of 22,371. The majority in 2021, 16,193, were reported at the northern border, followed by 6,178 nationwide and 76 at the southwest border.

The overwhelming majority are single military age adults.

Several retired CBP officials have pointed out that not all Canadian border crossers are native-born but include foreign nationals who received Canadian travel documents. Canadian citizens for years have legally traveled to the U.S. for work and as tourists.

Another record-breaking number coming from Canada is over 1,100 individuals on the U.S. terrorist watch list, referred to as known or suspected terrorists (KSTs), who attempted to illegally enter the US-Canada border since fiscal 2021, The Center Square first reported.

This is the greatest number in U.S. history under any administration. They total more than a U.S. Army battalion.

They are being apprehended by U.S. authorities, not Canadians. They include an Iranian with terrorist ties living in Canada and a Canadian woman previously arrested by Texas officials for claiming to threaten to kill former President Donald Trump.

Canadian authorities claim to thoroughly vet so-called refugees when permitting entry. One granted entry in 2018 was a member of ISIS who was granted citizenship this year and went on to allegedly plot a terrorist attack against Canadians, The Center Square reported.

Some members of the Canadian Parliament continue to express alarm about increasing terrorist threats under the Trudeau government after the ISIS member was only arrested after French authorities notified Canadian authorities about his alleged terrorist connection. Another recent example is Canadian authorities taking nine years to arrest a Canadian woman on terrorism-related offenses after she traveled to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS, The Center Square reported.

More recently, a Pakistani national living in Canada was arrested after announcing his plan to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish Center in Brooklyn, New York, after publicly expressing his support for ISIS for nine months, according to a Department of Justice announcement.

Members of Congress have introduced bills to secure the northern border, created a northern border security caucus. The U.S. House impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis. Republican lawmakers have also demanded increased security after Canadian authorities expanded a visa program to Palestinians, expressing concerns about a vetting process that may not identify those who support the terrorist organization Hamas. Ushered into power by Palestinian voters in 2006, Hamas holds a majority in the Palestinian Authority’s government. The U.S. State Department designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

All officially reported CBP data excludes gotaways, those who evaded capture and illegally entered the U.S. They total over 2 million, The Center Square first reported. Officials have expressed concerns about how many unknown gotaways are in the U.S. connected to countries of foreign concern, state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations. Several hundred connected to ISIS have illegally entered the U.S., authorities confirmed this year.

Despite claims by Canadian authorities that “the Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world,” numerous U.S. border security officials disagree, telling The Center Square the CBP data alone disproves their claim.

The number of Canadian illegal border crossers is not comparable to the nearly 3 million Mexican illegal border crossers under the Obrador administration since fiscal 2021. Among them, more than 22,000 Mexicans were apprehended by U.S. federal agents after illegally entering or attempting entry from Canada.

CBP data indicates that illegal border crossers holding travel documents from Canada and Mexico, America’s NAFTA partners, appear to be circumventing U.S. immigration law.

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Former Border Patrol agent asks 23 years after 9/11: What does ‘safe’ mean?

Twenty-three years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans are not any safer than they were before because of a border crisis facilitated by the Biden-Harris administration, national security experts argue.

One U.S. Army veteran who later served as a Border Patrol agent for 10 years but left citing Biden-Harris policies told The Center Square that Americans’ safety and security means something different depending on the administration in charge.

Since fiscal 2021, more than 12.5 million foreign nationals have illegally entered the country under Vice President Kamala Harris, designated the “border czar” by President Joe Biden. That’s by far the greatest number of any administration in U.S. history.

The illegal entries include two million who evaded capture, known as gotaways, alarming those in law enforcement because they say they don’t know who or where they are or how many are connected to countries of foreign concern or state sponsors of terrorism. Several hundred with connections to the Islamic terrorist organization, ISIS, have illegally entered the country, authorities confirmed this year.

Those who’ve been apprehended by U.S. authorities attempting to enter the U.S. include a record number of known or suspected terrorists – more than 1,700 since fiscal 2021. This is the greatest number in U.S. history, and equivalent to nearly two U.S. Army battalions.

The majority of those on the terrorist watch list apprehended by Americans came from Canada, nearly 1,100. They total the equivalent of one U.S. Army battalion.

The administration has “unsecured the border on purpose” and “created the greatest national security threat since 9/11,” Tom Homan, former director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told The Center Square.

The total number of illegal border crossers under Biden-Harris total more than the individual populations of 45 U.S. states, The Center Square reported.

The record number parallels Biden’s stated goal at a North American Summit in Washington, D.C., in 2021 to facilitate more foreign nationals coming to the U.S., The Center Square reported. He also formalized a Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection in 2022 with roughly two dozen countries to facilitate the “safe, orderly migration” of foreign nationals into the U.S. and in other countries.

The terminology has been repeatedly used by Harris and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It’s also been embraced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose agents have been ordered to release illegal foreign nationals into the country through new parole programs and a CBP One app. The programs and app are illegal, multiple states who sued to stop them, argue. Mayorkas was also impeached over them.

Despite Biden, Harris and Mayorkas claims that the border is secure and those being released into the country are being vetted, DHS Office of Inspector General audits prove otherwise. Federal agents can’t find foreign nationals released into U.S. as terrorism threats are heightened, The Center Square reported.

Despite this, Canadian officials have told The Center Square, “The Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world.” Mexico’s outgoing president said Mexico doesn’t have a cartel problem, the U.S. “drug problem” isn’t Mexico’s problem and “we are not going to act as any policemen for any foreign government.”

“The record number of people on the terrorist watchlist coming across the northern border” disproves the “most secure border in the world” claim, Homan said. “What they won’t tell you are the unknown gotaways coming through the northern border.”

Former Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan agrees, adding, “To say that our borders are secure is simply not a factual statement,” he said. “It’s just not. What level of threat is coming across is unknown.”

Morgan, also a retired FBI chief, was among several officials who warned Congress that the volume of single military age men illegally entering the U.S. equates to a “soft invasion” and a terrorist attack is likely imminent but preventable if security measures were put in place.

Ammon Blair, former Border Patrol agent and U.S. Army officer and senior fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said if the border were secure, the number of illegal border crossers would be zero.

He also pushed back on Biden-Harris administration claims about “safe, orderly migration,” saying, “Who would it be safe for? According to Mayorkas, safety means the safe, orderly, humane migration for illegal aliens into the country.”

“What does safe mean, and who are safe?” he asks. “Where are the protection protocols to protect Americans? There aren’t any. The only agency that has a protective order to secure a border is the U.S. military.”

Multiple officials have said there aren’t enough agents to patrol the northern or southwest borders, not to mention other ports of entry along the U.S. coast.

“We don’t have the resources to patrol the border, the technology or manpower,” Blair said. “The capacity to have 100% awareness of the border is astronomical and doesn’t happen with the current system under Department of Homeland Security.”

During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Harris deflected from answering questions about her role as border czar and didn’t say how she’d protect Americans from terrorist threats.