Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Representative Jim Himes acknowledged that undocumented immigrants crossing into the U.S. pose a “threat” due to security concerns like those involved in the 9/11 attacks.
While focusing on other threats from China, Russia, and conflicts like Gaza/Israel, Himes said the border situation remains a threat and intelligence agencies are working to address it.
“Well, it’s not just that, Shannon, right? I mean, remember, the perpetrators of 9/11 pulled off the most spectacular terrorist attack against the United States from inside the United States, on student visas,” Himes said.
“So, yes, the fact that there are lots of people who — who are here on an undocumented basis is a threat and the FBI director is right about that, and the FBI director and the chiefs of all of the intelligence community are very, very focused,” he added.
“Underlying this, of course, is the conflict in Israel and Gaza which has sort of activated radical Islamic terrorists. They more than ever before would like to undertake an attack in a spectacular way,” Himes said.
“The other thing going on, of course, is that over time we have gradually shifted our attention to China and, of course, to Russia,” he said. “And, you know, to some extent, it’s a little bit of a zero-sum game. If you’re really focused on China, which I think is appropriate, if you’re really focused on supporting the Ukrainians, which is appropriate, inevitably, there is a little bit less — fewer resources devoted to count — the counterterrorism mission.”
When pressed about eight men from Tajikistan with alleged ISIS ties crossing and passing background checks, Himes stressed the difficulty having perfect information but took comfort that authorities were able to apprehend the men quickly once suspicious activity was detected.
“The issue was not that they came across the border, although that is an issue, and the issue is not fundamentally with the vetting process per se. The issue was that when their identities were determined, we did not have derogatory information on them. Now, that’s sort of an inevitable aspect of you never have perfect information,” Himes said.
The congressman added later that Americans “should take some comfort in the fact that the moment these guys started communicating and doing suspect things, we were all over them.”
