In a series of written and video reports from both sides from the US-Mexico border during 2021 and the coming new year, Todd Bensman explores the causes and consequences of the mass-migration crisis he predicted in a November 2020 column titled "Will We See a 'Biden Effect' at the Border?" The crisis began several months before the national presidential election, when aspiring immigrants bet that … [Read more...] about Dispatches from a Border in Crisis
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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 … [Read more...] about A United Nations of Mass Migration: Dispatches from the Costa Rica-Nicaragua Border 2021
NOW AVAILABLE: “America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration”
The book by journalist Todd Bensman, AMERICA’S COVERT BORDER WAR, is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and, as they say: wherever books are sold. This 13-year work of journalism explores one of the most politically powerful and nationally contentious threat notions to ever have arisen about the American southern border: that Islamic jihadists might steal over it through Mexico … [Read more...] about NOW AVAILABLE: “America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration”
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
What Terrorist Migration Over European Borders Can Teach About American Border Security
The Center for Immigration Studies published the results of a yearlong study of migrants who crossed Europe’s external borders and conducted attacks or who were arrested and killed committing terrorism crimes. This paper quantifies for the first time how many border-crossing migrants attacked in Europe and analyzes consequences for U.S. border security, among them: a moderate, high-consequence … [Read more...] about What Terrorist Migration Over European Borders Can Teach About American Border Security
Out of Mexico: Encampment of International Migrants Reminds of Homeland Security Priority
Thousands of "extra-continental" migrants from troubled hot spots all over the world are arriving at the U.S. border. Escaping analysis is that some nations are home to militias conducting unspeakable brutalities, as well as violent criminals, Islamic terrorist groups, and murderers on various sides of armed rebellions, economic collapse, and civil wars. Is homeland security vetting them? Bensman … [Read more...] about Out of Mexico: Encampment of International Migrants Reminds of Homeland Security Priority
More than 100 migrants on terror watch lists caught at U.S. southern border or enroute 2012-2017 – New Center for Immigration Studies Report
On several occasions in October 2018, President Donald Trump and some administration officials suggested that migrants from Middle Eastern countries might have traveled among the thousands of Hondurans in a U.S.-bound column. Later, the president stated he had "very good information" that Middle Eastern migrants had been traveling through Latin America for a number of years, independently of … [Read more...] about More than 100 migrants on terror watch lists caught at U.S. southern border or enroute 2012-2017 – New Center for Immigration Studies Report
Dispatches from Army Tex-Mex Border Op Formerly Known as ‘Operation Faithful Patriot’
Photos and Video from Bensman's unauthorized visit with U.S. troops of the 19th Engineer Battalion deployed to the Texas-Mexico border Hidalgo, Texas – Unauthorized. That was pretty much the mark on my forehead as far as all the public information officers were concerned. On the morning of my second day to check in on the border military operation formerly known as Operation Faithful Patriot, … [Read more...] about Dispatches from Army Tex-Mex Border Op Formerly Known as ‘Operation Faithful Patriot’