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The world first saw what theal Qaedaoffshoot ISIS was capable of in 2014, when it began beheading Americans and committing genocide against Christians and Yazidis in Iraq. Today, the terror group’s descendant, ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), is growing and strengthening its ability to kill innocent civilians across the globe.
In the face of this danger, the U.S. government should be working day and night to uphold our national security. Instead, President Biden’s illegal immigration policies are giving ISIS-K clear access to the homeland, raising the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Just look at recent press reports of ISIS-K affiliates crossing the southern border.
In February 2022, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) apprehended an illegal Uzbek immigrant named Jovokhir Attoev. Following Biden’s protocols, CBP then released Attoev — a single, military-aged male who had traveled thousands of miles through multiple countries — into the country.
‘HEIGHTENED THREAT’ OF TERRORISM DURING PRIDE MONTH 2024, FBI AND DHS WARN
Last May, however, the Uzbek government published a global notice that Attoev was wanted for ties to ISIS-K. The Biden administration only tracked him down last month, which means he flew under the radar inside the United States for two years.
Latin American migrants take part in a caravan toward the border with the United States, in Huehuetan, Mexico, on June 7, 2022. (Isaac Guzman/AFP via Getty Images)
It doesn’t end there. Per the press, illegal Afghan immigrant Mohammad Kharwin was suspected to be on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) terror watch list for being a member of Hezb-e-Islami, a terrorist organization that has killed American service members.
But when Kharwin crossed the border illegally in March 2023, officials couldn’t verify his identity, so once again, they let a single, military-aged male who had traveled thousands of miles through multiple countries, roam the homeland freely. It took 13 months for law enforcement to confirm his presence on the FBI’s watch list and arrest him.
These examples are disturbing enough, but they are just a drop in the bucket compared to the threat posed by terrorists who have entered the United States and remain undetected.
Since Biden took office, CBP has recorded more than 9 million encounters with people who have entered the United States illegally, virtually none of whom have been detained or expelled, and the vast majority of whom we know nothing about.
VideoAccording to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 6,000 of these illegal immigrants hail from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan, in each of which ISIS-K has an active recruiting presence. There is no telling exactly how many affiliates of ISIS-K or other terror groups are now living among us.
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Things look even grimmer when you consider the public reporting that foreign smugglers with ISIS ties have facilitated illegal immigration at the southern border. In short, our soft underbelly is ripe for exploitation by fanatical killers.
The answer to this problem is simple: secure the border and enforce America’s immigration laws. Yet, aside from dropping idle hints about executive orders, Biden has done nothing to reverse the open-border policies he campaigned on and spent the last three years enacting.
This is unacceptable and places American lives in jeopardy. ISIS-K is no longer a distant threat hiding in the Middle East. It may already be here, just waiting for the right moment to inflict mass destruction.
VideoRemember, this is the same group that killed 13 service members in Kabul during our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is the same group that praises September 11, 2001. And it is the same group that our intelligence community openly assesses to be planning chemical, biological and radioactive attacks on Western targets, in addition to the usual tactics of suicide bombings and mass shootings.
Meanwhile, Biden continues to facilitate the largest, least secure migration event in modern U.S. history. We’re playing right into the hands of terrorists who seek our destruction. I hope and pray I’m wrong, but I fear that under this administration’s policies, we are sitting ducks. The time for change is now.
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Republican Marco Rubio represents Florida in the United States Senate.
