We know that Joe Biden’s surrender of our southern border has made America a lot less safe, but due to lack of transparency from his administration, we don’t know just how high the threat level has become. However, we recently got a bit of an idea from Biden Administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In late July, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) grilled a leading DHS official on how many illegal aliens have been able to board flights in the U.S. by using either their arrest record or deportation notice as a form of identification.
“Under 1,000 sir,” said Transportation Security Administrator (TSA) David Pekoske, adding that the aliens weren’t always required to meet with an airport security director.
The most astounding part of Pekoske’s reply is his use of the adjective “under,” as if having just under 1,000 criminal illegal aliens boarding flights in and around the U.S. is acceptable. That Pekoske does not know the exact number of criminal aliens flying throughout the country is also stunning considering it’s his job to oversee security for traveling Americans.
Hawley had previously asked the Biden Administration for specifics on how many criminal illegal aliens were traveling in the country, but said that Pekoske had not responded to him until the hearing. The episode is revealing, in that it demonstrates how little knowledge the Biden Administration has about the people they are letting into our country, and how little they care.
In a serious country, any illegal alien who tried to board a plane by presenting his or her arrest warrant would be immediately detained and swiftly deported. But, under Joe Biden’s “leadership,” the U.S. is not a serious country. It is a country with a gaping vulnerability, and there is a price to be paid for that.
Unfortunately, that price has to be made is paid by the American people, not by the leftist elites who have eroded our sovereignty. A major price for the American people is the erosion of safety.
Illegal aliens commit crimes at much higher rates than legal immigrants and U.S. citizens, according to a 2019 study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). In California and New York, for example, the crime rate among illegal aliens is more than three times higher than other residents in those states. In Texas and Florida, illegal aliens are over 60 percent more likely to be incarcerated than legal immigrants and citizens living in those states. Illegal immigration is arguably the biggest threat to public safety in the U.S., and this administration continues to demonstrate shocking indifference about it.
Allowing illegal aliens to board domestic flights with arrest records is just the latest example of how the Biden White House has normalized illegal immigration to the benefit of dangerous criminals. Deporting criminal illegal aliens is a policy that both sides used to agree on. The anti-borders Obama Administration even said it was one of its priorities to deport felons. But, now the Biden Administration simply gives them a plane ticket and allows them free reign across our country. The brazenness of it all is beyond anything we’ve ever seen from previous administrations.
Under Biden, the United States resettled more than one million illegal aliens during his first year in office, according to a recent FAIR study. Some of these aliens were terrorists or suspected terrorists, but we don’t know how many given this administration’s lack of transparency. We do know that one of those aliens was an ISIS fighter who plotted to assassinate a former president.
Joe Biden’s anti-borders policies have increased the threat level in the U.S. and made most citizens less safe. The American people deserve to know how many dangerous criminals this administration has let into our country, and finding out must be a top priority for the next Congress.
William J. Davis is a communications associate for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.