Thread: ISIS terrorist more like to enter U.S. on a plane with a visa than across the border

ISIS terrorists won’t sneak into U.S. across loose Mexico border: Homeland Security officials

Obama administration officials are more concerned about passport-holding bloodthirsty ISIS jihadists entering the U.S. via airplane.

BY DAN FRIEDMAN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, September 10, 2014, 4:36 PM

MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents patrol along the international border between Mexico and the U.S. near San Diego, Calif. Administration officials said Wednesday ISIS terrorists weren’t likely to sneak into the country through the border.

WASHINGTON — ISIS terrorists slipping into the United States from Mexico? Not high on security officials’ worry list.

They’re far more concerned about jihadists entering the U.S. legally by airplane.

Administration higher-ups testifying at a House hearing Wednesday said there is no evidence to support scary border scenarios cited by conservatives such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

"We don't have any credible information, that we are aware of, of known or suspected terrorists coming across the border," said Jennifer Lasley, a senior official in the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence and analysis office, told the House Homeland Security border security subcommittee Wednesday.

PETE MAROVICH/BLOOMBERG

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has suggested it could be possible for ISIS terrorists to sneak into the country through the U.S. border with Mexico.

She was responding to Rep. Jeff Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, who like, Cruz, argued that the radical jihadist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, may exploit lax security along the border. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has said ISIS terrorists may already have crossed into the U.S.

Administration officials at the hearing, which focused on ISIS fighters who hold western passports, said it is far more likely an extremist sympathetic to the group will try to enter the country by air.

"The number of known watch-listed persons we are encountering on the Southwest border is minimal compared to commercial aviation,” said John Wagner, assistant commissioner in the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's Office of Field Operations. "We're talking tens versus thousands."



U.S. intelligence estimates that about 100 American citizens are among about 12,000 foreigners fighting with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. At least three Americans have died fighting for ISIS, one in a suicide bombing.

"Our concern remains that these individuals, if radicalized, could return to their home countries or to the U.S., and use their newly acquired skills to carry out attacks," Lasley testified. "Although we currently have no credible information to indicate that [the Islamic State] is planning to attack the homeland, we remain concerned in the long term."

dfriedman@nydailynews.com

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http://www.alipac.us/f9/lebanese-nat...border-310722/

Easy Visas, Lax Immigration Enforcement And Terrorists

By BETSY MCCAUGHEY

Posted 06:55 PM ET

President Obama met with congressional leaders and military advisers on Tuesday to frame a strategy for battling the Islamic State overseas. Better late than never.

But Obama still has said nothing about stopping jihadists from bringing their terror here.

It's up to Congress to act on this urgent issue. Congress should reverse Obama's dangerous new policy of granting asylum to people with terrorist connections.

Federal law bars it, but on Feb. 5, the administration went around Congress and loosened the law to welcome asylum seekers who have provided only "limited material support" to terrorists.

Next, Congress should outlaw visas to "study" at unaccredited institutions, which often are nothing more than visa mills. Finally, Congress needs to crack down on overstaying visas. Five of the 19 9/11 hijackers had overstayed tourist visas, and another was on a student visa.

Of course, immigration offers huge benefits to our nation. And not all terrorists are foreign-born. But these weak links in enforcement have to be closed to thwart another 9-11.

That's not anti-immigration. It's anti-terror.

Obama was dead set on loosening rules for asylum seekers. "Dead" is the right word, because there is a long history of asylum-seekers killing Americans.

The parents of the radical Muslim Boston Marathon bombers came here on tourist visas and then sought asylum.

In 1993, Pakistani asylum seeker Ramzi Yousef bombed the World Trade Center.

Mir Aimal Kansi, another Pakistani asylum seeker, gunned down two CIA agents in Virginia.

John Q. Public has nothing to gain and everything — including his safety — to lose from lax asylum rules.

The "comprehensive" (meaning unread) immigration bill proposed by the Gang of Eight senators last year would have eased the asylum process, though that part of the bill was under the radar. With the bill held up by the House, the president acted on his own last February.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., supported lifting the restrictions on asylum-seekers because they "resulted in deserving refugees and asylees being barred" when they may have been pressured to cooperate with terrorists. Barring some of these people may be unfair, but how are you going to investigate their claims?

Student visas from unaccredited institutions are another welcome mat for terrorists. The 9/11 Commission urged Congress to tighten student visas, citing the hijacker who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon after he got into the U.S. on a student visa but never showed up for school.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...#ixzz3CxVKwB4Y

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8/22/14

http://www.alipac.us/f12/pentagon-no...border-309814/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/isis-terror...bility-310624/