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Yesterday, FBI Director Wray testified at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during the annual Worldwide Threats Assessment hearing.
Questioning was led by Senator Rubio:
RUBIO: Are we seeing crimes from people that entered the country over the last three years, some of them with ties to gangs or other criminal organizations?
WRAY: I would say this from an FBI perspective: we are seeing a wide array of very dangerous threats that emanate from the border, and that includes everything from the drug trafficking, and the FBI alone seized enough fentanyl in the last two years to kill 270 million people. That’s just on the fentanyl side. An awful lot of the violent crime in the United States is at the hands of gangs, who are themselves involved in the distribution of that fentanyl.
Last night on Fox, in advance of today’s House Intelligence Committee Hearings, Brett Baer interviewed Connecticut Congressman Himes, a ranking member of the committee, and Chairman Mike Turner.
Chairman Turner indicated, based on Wray’s testimony, that most of the increased threats from the Southern border, including smugglers from ISIS, are making alarm bells flash red.
When asked about these threats, Himes noted that there are risks when you do not know where those who are sneaking in illegally are coming from, and wished the bi-partisan border bill was passed which he said was a “missed opportunity”.
Himes was able to pivot to focus on domestic extremism, creating another opportunity to plug the events of January 6th and other domestic terrorist events and issues.
When asked why not more has been done by Executive Action by Biden on the border, Himes stated that "there is a long legal debate of what executive actions are on the table" and that "it would not surprise him [Himes] if he [Biden] pushed things to the limit of his executive authority.”
Himes did focus on the bi-partisan bill that was co-authored by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and did not pass. Last week, Himes re-tweeted Lankford mouthing "that's true" in agreement with the State of the Union (SOTU) regarding a portion of it where the bill would have hired new CBP and immigration judges on asylum. Lankford explained his response at the SOTU to clarify what he agreed with in his statement and as an opportunity as to what Biden was leaving out with respect to many executive actions he could take on the border, including Last In First Out to discourage illegal crossings.
The border was not an issue for the previous administration under President Trump who touted the safest border in recent times. However, the southern border has become a major issue and threat to our national security when police are attacked in New York City by illegals and then released, and when a young woman, Laken Riley, is killed in Georgia by an illegal. More concern was over Biden using the term “illegal” than the crimes that the illegals committed. Many of these southern border issues were contained within Biden’s 94 Executive Orders within his first 100 days in office to reverse the policies of the Trump Administration.
Unfortunately, Mr. Himes, who has stood by the Biden administration on the Border has not done anything to secure it and while the bi-partisan Border bill could help, many of the solutions in the bill were considered superficial by most republicans as the proposals did not deter illegal behavior and did not sufficiently secure the border. While the bill will need an overhaul for full bi-partisan support and negotiations from Biden, if Biden wants to pass such a bill, he can start with Executive Orders.
We will see what happens in today’s hearing, but don’t expect Himes to be at the forefront of securing our border. Himes did foreshadow and focus on Ukraine so it should not be surprising if the hearing strengthens the provisions in that bill for America to add significant aid to Ukraine to be in a position to defend itself.
Americans want secure borders, and the border is becoming an increasing priority when polled. More attacks on this country from such illegal immigration, drug, sex and human trafficking will cause greater harms to our nation that must be stopped. Not enough, if anything, is really being done to secure our borders by Biden and Congressman Himes who has voted in lock-step with him on such issues that affect our national security.