How Safe Is America?

Since Hamas infiltrated Israel on October 7, 2023, and killed more than 1400 people, terrorists have also been targeting Americans and America’s interests. Yesterday on Capitol Hill, Homeland Security Secretary Aejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray fielded questions from members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. While there, they “painted a scary picture” at times, according to Fred Lucas at The Daily Signal.

Lucas explained that “Wray warned about possible attacks on U.S. soil by Hamas or other bad actors,” and Mayorkas had few answers about the conditions at the southern border. He then gave five takeaways from the hearing.

1. ‘Gotaways’ at the Border

Regarding lack of security on the southern border, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., asked, “How many gotaways did CBP [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] report in fiscal year 2023?”

Mayorkas replied, “I believe, Senator, that number is over 600,000.” [Mayorkas then tried to paper over the problem by saying ‘gotaways’ were a problem in the previous administration.] … 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., pressed Mayorkas on how many illegal immigrants got into the country since Biden took office Jan. 20, 2021.

“How many people has this administration let in by encountering, processing, disbursing, or that have come in as a known or unknown gotaway?” Johnson asked.

Mayorkas wasn’t eager to answer…. [Why would he be?]

“Mr. Secretary, I want a number. How many people have you let into this country?” Johnson responded.

Mayorkas began to reply, “I should also…”

Apparently having had enough, Johnson told Mayorkas: “OK. I’ll give you the number. It’s about six million.” [This means that there are at least six million people in our nation that were not vetted and who could be terrorists. No one knows!]

2. Big Tech and Free Speech

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, pressed Wray on whether the FBI was collaborating with Big Tech to censor speech.

“Is the FBI still meeting with social media companies?” Paul asked the FBI director.

Wray responded by noting the Missouri v. Biden case pending before the Supreme Court, which has to do with collusion on content between federal agencies and Big Tech companies.

“We are having some interaction with social media companies. But all of those interactions have changed fundamentally in the wake of the court’s ruling,” Wray said.

Paul later followed by asking: “How did you change your behavior?”

Wray: “Out of an abundance of caution, in order to make sure we don’t run afoul of any court ruling. I would say, of course, the injunction has been stayed by the Supreme Court.”

Paul: “Did anybody from the FBI ever discuss constitutionally protected speech with social media organizations?”

Wray: “Not to my understanding.” …

[Paul]: “But the ‘Twitter Files’ and other indications, as well as Missouri v. Biden, lists many cases of both DHS and FBI discussing constitutionally protected speech, vaccine advocacy, mask advocacy,” the Kentucky Republican told the FBI director….

3. ‘Historic Levels’ of Antisemitism

Wray told the Senate committee that statistics show the threat of antisemitism in the United States has increased since Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel….

“I will say that this is a threat that is reaching in some ways sort of historic levels, in part because … the Jewish community is targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum,” Wray said.

The FBI director said the FBI is viewing the “full landscape and doing our best to be proactive in this space.”

He said the FBI is conducting hate crime investigations and deploying its Joint Terrorism Task Force to stave off the threat.

“In fact, our statistics would indicate that for a group that represents only about 2.4% of the American public, they [Jewish victims] account for something like 60% of all religious-faith hate crimes,” Wray added….

[Someone ought to tell the White House press secretary!]

4. ‘Extreme Rhetoric’ by DHS Employee

In what turned into a tense exchange, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asked Mayorkas about antisemitism in the Department of Homeland Security.

Nejwa Ali, a former spokeswoman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s now-defunct U.S. delegation, works for the adjudication officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of DHS. Ali was placed on paid suspension after making incendiary antisemitic posts on social media.

“What about people who say on Oct. 7, ‘F Israel – I’m cleaning up the language here – F Israel, the government and its military? Are you ready for your downfall?’” Hawley asked Mayorkas, quoting Ali.

Hawley also read a tweet from the same DHS employee as writing: ‘F – Israel and any Jew who supports Israel. May your conscience haunt your dreams until your last breath. Palestine will be free one day.”

[Hawley and Mayorkas agreed that the rhetoric was extreme – but agreement did not last long.]

After Hamas terrorists killed 1,400 in Israel and took over 200 as hostages, some DHS employees posted an image of a Hamas paraglider with a machine gun, which is one of the ways the terrorists entered Israel.

Hawley pointed out such social media posts.

“Is this typical of people who work at DHS? This is an asylum and immigration officer who is posting these, frankly, pro-genocidal slogans and images on the day that Israelis are being slaughtered in their beds,” Hawley said. “What have you done about this?”

Mayorkas responded by defending his department’s staff as a whole, rather than answering directly….

[Hawley pressed Mayorkas by asking several times if the employee had been fired.

Mayorkas finally answered that the person was put on administrative leave.]

5. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran-Backed Terrorists in US?

Both Wray and Mayorkas addressed the possibility of new terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Daily Signal recently reported that Iran’s Islamist regime has received approximately $71 billion more under Biden than it would have under his predecessor, Donald Trump.

“The ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level,” Wray said.

“As the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranians have directly, or by hiring criminals, mounted assassination attempts against dissidents and high-ranking current and former U.S. government officials, including right here on American soil,” the FBI director said. “Along those lines, Hezbollah, Iran’s primary strategic partner, has a history of seizing operatives and infrastructure, obtaining money and weapons, and spying in this country.”

The State Department designates both Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations dependent on Iran.

Wray also warned the Senate committee that the threat of a Hamas-inspired attack in the U.S is at “a whole other level.”

“On top of the homegrown violent extremists, the domestic violent extremist threat, we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil,” he said. “We have kept our sights on Hamas and have multiple ongoing investigations into individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization.”

In fiscal year 2023, which ended Sept. 30, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that 172 individuals on the nation’s terrorist watchlist were apprehended while illegally crossing the southern border.

I believe that it is safe to say that America and Americans are not safe from terrorist attacks. Biden’s policies have followed the same path – only worse – of other Democrat presidents who went before him. They make policies that are not good for America, and Americans suffer. Yet, millions of Americans do not understand that it is policies that make a difference in whether America thrives or survives.