Secure the Border

At the end of January, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a terrorist in Minnesota. He crossed our southern border in early 2023, and he roamed freely across our country for almost a year before being detained.

In March of last year, authorities caught the man, a member of Somali terror group al-Shabaab, at the border in California. At the time, the Terrorist Screening Center incorrectly deemed him a “mismatch” to the terror watchlist. So the government released him into our country.

But just weeks ago, the screening center made a “redetermination” confirming that the man was a member of al-Shabaab. More than that, it confirmed that he was involved in the use, manufacture, or transport of explosives or firearms. ICE tracked him to Minnesota — 2,000 miles away from the point where he had entered our country — and arrested him.

It’s absurd, but under the Biden administration, these stories are commonplace. Last year, border agents arrested 169 people on the terror watchlist between ports of entry at the southern border — an increase from 98 arrests the year before. Since the beginning of this fiscal year in October, they’ve stopped 49 terror watchlist members. There’s a reason the number of suspected terrorists trying to cross the border keeps climbing under President Biden: bad actors know our border is not secure.

There is a crisis at our southern border, one that’s torn a gaping hole in our national security. I’ve been to the southern border, and I’ve seen the humanitarian and security catastrophe there. Open borders invite crime, drugs, and an increased risk of terrorism. The Biden administration’s inaction only encourages more of this behavior.

Border security is not negotiable. But unfortunately, the national security bill proposed in the Senate last week doesn’t accomplish that essential goal. Any legislation to secure our southern border needs to complete the border wall — the most basic of security measures. It must address sanctuary cities, and it must end President Biden’s abuse of parole authorities.

Better legislative options already exist. I co-led the Senate introduction of H.R.2, the Secure the Border Act, which has already passed the House of Representatives. H.R.2 builds the wall. It ends the catchand-release policy that allowed an al-Shabaab member to waltz across our country last month. It reinstates President Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy requiring migrants to stay in another country while their asylum applications are processed. Frankly, it’s common sense.

There’s just one obstacle: politics. The president and his Democratic allies caused this crisis. It’s hard to imagine the situation at our border getting worse — but exactly how bad does it have to get for them to swallow their pride and pass a serious border security proposal?

Americans across our country want border security. They need border security. It’s time for both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to come together and fix this crisis.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.

Deb Fischer represents Nebraska in the United States Senate. Read her column in the Polk County News.