Opinion: Trump is wrong. This is the real terror threat in America
Trump is already in general election mode and he knows that the southern border is a weak spot for President Joe Biden. Trump also surely recalls that conflating terrorism and immigration was a winner for him back in the 2016 presidential race — remember the “Muslim ban”? So why not go back to this electorally proven well again?
But is Trump right? Let’s take his first claim, that terrorists are pouring into the US from all over the globe. If this were true, wouldn’t that be kind of a big news story? When terrorists get arrested anywhere in the US, the media covers such stories intensively, as it did in the case of an Uzbek man sentenced to life in prison last year for his role in a terrorist attack in Manhattan that killed eight people.
Strangely, we aren’t hearing stories of terror attacks across the US by people who infiltrated the southern border. It must be the lamestream media covering up for the terrorists!
In fact, what Trump appears to be referring to are US Customs and Border Protection statistics about encounters with individuals at US borders who are on the US terrorism watch list. To be clear, being on this terrorism watchlist does not mean you are a terrorist.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/28/opinions/trump-terrorism-threat-southern-border-bergen