Todd Bensman

From Journalism to Counterterrorism Intelligence - and Back.

Terrorism & Homeland Security

Review of America’s Covert Border War book (Townhall Media)

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A Look at America's Covert Border War By Leah Barkoukas, features editor, as originally published March 12, 2021 by TownHall While former President Trump had a knack for whipping the press into a frenzy no matter what he seemed to say, one issue he touched on in 2018 brought about a tsunami of criticism unlike most others. What had he dared bring attention to this time? He suggested, … [Read more...] about Review of America’s Covert Border War book (Townhall Media)

Homeland Security Today PERSPECTIVE: ‘Extra-Continental’ Migrants Throughout Americas on Their Way Toward Southern Border

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What differentiates some migrants from Mexicans and Central Americans – especially when they hail from a shifting 35-55 U.S. list of designated nations of national security interest like Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia and Pakistan – is that American officials see a heightened national security risk in that they hail from areas where terrorist organizations actively recruit and … [Read more...] about Homeland Security Today PERSPECTIVE: ‘Extra-Continental’ Migrants Throughout Americas on Their Way Toward Southern Border

Overwhelmed Mexican Alien-Smuggling Cartels Use Wristband System to Bring Order to Business

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'It's the sort you'd get at a water park.' "What this means is that the cartels and the smuggling organizations have created a process because they are being so overrun with people that, even for them, it's difficult to keep up with who has paid and who hasn't. It goes to show the sheer challenge that even they are facing in trying to ensure that people don't overwhelm them." By Todd … [Read more...] about Overwhelmed Mexican Alien-Smuggling Cartels Use Wristband System to Bring Order to Business

Book Review by Andrew Harrod

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As published February 14, 2021 in The Blitz website Contrary to America’s Leftists, “that jihadists would infiltrate land borders among bedraggled war refugees” is not an “outrageous fantasy of fringe racists, nativist immigration restrictionists, and conspiracy lunatics.” So writes Center for Immigration Studies National Security Fellow Todd Bensman in his revealing … [Read more...] about Book Review by Andrew Harrod

About those 11 Iranian Migrants Captured at the Mexico-Arizona Border – What Homeland Security Does With Them

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By Todd Bensman as published February 15, 2021 by Townhall Media Many Americans might have felt surprised by recent news that U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona caught 11 Iranian migrants who crossed the southern border from Mexico. But this crossing is not surprising in one insular quarter: an international cadre of intelligence and law enforcement officers who work on this chronically … [Read more...] about About those 11 Iranian Migrants Captured at the Mexico-Arizona Border – What Homeland Security Does With Them

In The Daily Wire: A Border Threat So Taboo That Few Dare Speak Of It

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By Todd Bensman as originally published February 1, 2021 by The Daily Wire In the final days of his presidency and his last visit to the U.S. southern border, Donald Trump stood next to his contentious wall in Alamo, Texas on January 12, 2021 and uttered a striking claim that went entirely unreported by any traditional news media outlet. “We have terrorists from the Middle East coming … [Read more...] about In The Daily Wire: A Border Threat So Taboo That Few Dare Speak Of It

Trump’s Travel Ban Fixed a Real-World Security Problem

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Its demise promises a return to peril By Todd Bensman as published January 21, 2021 by the Center for Immigration Studies A few years before President Donald Trump instituted his so-called "travel ban" on now-13 countries, the 21-year-old Sudanese citizen Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan entered the United States with his siblings and mother on temporary Legal Permanent Resident visas. At the … [Read more...] about Trump’s Travel Ban Fixed a Real-World Security Problem

President of the United States: “Terrorists Coming Through Our Country Through the Southern Border” So Is it True?

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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 … [Read more...] about President of the United States: “Terrorists Coming Through Our Country Through the Southern Border” So Is it True?