By Todd Bensman as published by the Center for Immigration Studies
In a January 12, 2021 speech at the border wall in Alamo, Texas, President Donald Trump stated that terrorist travelers in numbers “far greater than anybody would understand” have reached the U.S. southern border.
Here is the totality of the president’s statement that day at the wall, from Minute 18:24 to 19:11:
“We also have, and … we have them all the time; we have terrorists from the Middle East coming through our country through the southern border. That was before what you see right here [gesturing toward the border wall]. Because it was easier to come into our country through the southern border than it was through airports or any other means. So they’d land in South America and they’d work their way up and they’d come into our country. And these are not people coming from the countries you’d expect. These are people from some very seriously dangerous places in the Middle East. And the numbers are far greater than anybody would understand, really far greater. Removing any of these measures would hamstring our workers, endanger our country, and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year.”
Are the president’s assertions true?
Answer: Yes, but they hardly tell the whole story. That can be found in the 288 pages of my forthcoming book: America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of The Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration.
The book will be released on February 9 and is available for pre-order at Amazon.