By Todd Bensman, special to Homeland Security Today 9/11 Commemoration Series, September 15, 2021 On January 19, 2018, a citizen of Afghanistan and former interpreter for the U.S. military named Wasiq Ullah crossed the Texas border from Mexico. He had spent $16,000 to be smuggled through several countries – most likely to South America or Cuba and then overland north through … [Read more...] about Homeland Security Today: State of Border Counterterrorism
Permanent Collections
United Nations of Illegal Immigration Part IV: Newly Indicted War Criminal from Africa Reminds Us of Need for Vetting
By Todd Bensman as published July 9, 2021 by the Center for Immigration Studies Read Part 1, Read Part 2, Read Part 3LOS CHILES, Costa Rica – Five military-aged African migrants, fresh off a commercial bus in this town a few miles south of the Nicaragua border, eyed with hard suspicion several smuggler-drivers who approached them in the off-load area. The bus had brought them from Costa Rica’s … [Read more...] about United Nations of Illegal Immigration Part IV: Newly Indicted War Criminal from Africa Reminds Us of Need for Vetting
A United Nations of Mass Migration: Dispatches from the Costa Rica-Nicaragua Border 2021
The intercontinental trail connecting the world to the U.S. border is more congested than at any time in recent memory, with people from Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Burkina Faso, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and other countries. The significance of this “extra-continental” flow is that it ferries peoples from nations where violent Islamic extremism is rampant, as well as from African nations rife … [Read more...] about A United Nations of Mass Migration: Dispatches from the Costa Rica-Nicaragua Border 2021
Part II: A United Nations of Illegal Immigration A tricky, unreported route to the U.S. border from U.S. ally Costa Rica to foe Nicaragua
By Todd Bensman as published July 1, 2021 by the Center for Immigration Studies Read Part 1 here LA TROCHA, NICARAGUA — A young woman who makes her living driving U.S.-bound migrants to smuggling guides recently snared three Haitians from a bus station and drove them through 40 miles of rolling pineapple plantations and jungle until arriving at this tough frontier “town” of nefarious birth … [Read more...] about Part II: A United Nations of Illegal Immigration A tricky, unreported route to the U.S. border from U.S. ally Costa Rica to foe Nicaragua
Part I From Costa Rica: A United Nations of Mass Illegal Immigration
The U.S. migration crisis in plain view at the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border Read Part II here By Todd Bensman as originally published June 29, 2021 by the Center or Immigration Studies NEAR LOS CHILES, COSTA RICA — Two Nicaraguan soldiers carrying AK-47s motored up on a single scooter and dismounted on their side of the border, a mud road and a downed barbed-wire fence. The sergeant eyed … [Read more...] about Part I From Costa Rica: A United Nations of Mass Illegal Immigration
U.S. Lays Out Welcome Mat for Middle Eastern and “Extra-Continental” Migrants While Mexico Blocks Them: An Immigration Policy Disconnect
By Todd Bensman as originally published February 5, 2020 by Creative Destruction Media TAPACHULA, Mexico – The matronly Mexican entrepreneur bustling to and fro in her seedy downtown restaurant is proud of the legacy embossed on the walls of her first eatery next door, but especially of the nickname – “Mama Africa” – that still has customers along a global underground railroad seeking her out … [Read more...] about U.S. Lays Out Welcome Mat for Middle Eastern and “Extra-Continental” Migrants While Mexico Blocks Them: An Immigration Policy Disconnect
Why 40,000 Migrants a Month Still Reach the U.S. Border: ‘Polleros’ Bypassing Mexican National Guard
By many measures, the Mexican deployment of National Guard to roadblocks throughout the country's south has worked something like a miracle. But officials on the ground admit smugglers are figuring out ways around them. Indigenous Tzetzol natives called "polleros" are helping up to 40,000 migrants a month make it to the U.S. southern border. By Todd Bensman as originally published January 31, … [Read more...] about Why 40,000 Migrants a Month Still Reach the U.S. Border: ‘Polleros’ Bypassing Mexican National Guard
Video Report: Immigration Disconnect: U.S. Woos Middle Easterners and “Extra-Continental” Migrants While Mexico Blocks Them
By Todd Bensman as published January 29, 2020 by the Center for Immigration Studies Officials high and low say that extra-continental migrants from the Middle East and everywhere else are exempt from the stew of new policies President Donald Trump has implemented mainly to deter Central Americans. Senior and lower-ranking DHS officials confirm that President Trump’s much-credited “Wait in … [Read more...] about Video Report: Immigration Disconnect: U.S. Woos Middle Easterners and “Extra-Continental” Migrants While Mexico Blocks Them
Video: Why the 2020 Caravans Threaten the Fragile Success of Trump’s Border Policies
Should even one of these testing, probing caravans be allowed to find and exploit a breach in the Mexican defense, or should President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) falter for a moment, many more will no doubt rise follow their predecessors through the breach. That's why the outcome of these battles between migrants and Mexican police and troops matter greatly to immediate future border … [Read more...] about Video: Why the 2020 Caravans Threaten the Fragile Success of Trump’s Border Policies
Dispatches from America’s Other Southern Border: Guatemala-Mexico
Implementation of President Donald Trump's cocktail of policies took time, with U.S. court challenges, trial and error, and planning necessities. But by the fall of 2019, the historic numbers of Central Americans crossing the U.S. border, to the tune of 100,000 a month — 144,000 in May 2019 alone — had plummeted to (still-high) pre-crisis levels. Understanding why is key to blunting future … [Read more...] about Dispatches from America’s Other Southern Border: Guatemala-Mexico