President Donald Trump’s claims that Middle Eastern migrants were traveling Central American routes to the U.S. border, among them some Islamic terrorists, spawned a confused national debate that never quite moved past disputes over just the basic facts. Such as: Can, have, and do migrants from countries of terrorism concern, where Islamic terrorist groups operate, actually travel through Latin America to the U.S. southern border, terrorists sometimes among them? Too often, pundits declared with certainty that neither had happened. The administration didn’t help matters by declassifying evidence to support its claims.
To help clarify the discussion with facts, the Center for Immigration Studies published this Backgrounder by Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman, reporting that more than 100 migrants on U.S. terror watch lists had been apprehended at the U.S. southern border, or en route, in recent years and listed 15 suspected and confirmed terrorists who had made the journey through Latin America. The Center then sent Bensman to Panama, which is a key bottleneck country where migrants from countries of terrorism concern reportedly had to move through first to even reach the Central American lanes to the American border. The following video, photos, and content reflect Bensman’s findings from December 3-15, 2018, field research in Panama, which also took him to the Costa Rica border. Bensman found hundreds of U.S.-bound migrants from countries of terror concern and interviewed Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis.
In-depth in The Federalist: Central American Countries Are Helping Middle Easterners Illegally Enter The United States; Terror Suspects Pulled From Routes
Video: Panama and Costa Rica Doing Smugglers’ Work with “Controlled Flow” Policy
Video: How SIAs Reach the U.S. Through South and Central America
VIDEO: CIS in Panama and Costa Rica: How America Filters Potential Terrorists in Distant Lands
Video: An Interview with a Bangladeshi in Costa Rica en Route to the U.S. Southwest Border
A Talk with an Iranian Migrant in Costa Rica en Route to the U.S. Border
Four U.S.-Bound Iranian Migrants Underline National Security Concerns about Migration from Special Interest Countries
A Rare Interview with a Pakistani Migrant in Costa Rica en Route to the U.S. Border
House Homeland Security Committee Releases Special Report on Terrorist Border Infiltration Threat
New Interpol-Led Human Smuggling Operation Arrests Some ‘Linked to Terrorism’, Collects Trove of Intel
