• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Bensman
  • Awards & Honors
  • Forthcoming Book
  • Schedule Todd To Speak
  • Contact
  • Subscribe to Newsletter

Todd Bensman

From Journalism to Counterterrorism Intelligence - and Back.

  • Securing U.S. Borders
  • Terrorism & Homeland Security
  • Bensman in the News
  • Testimony To Congress
  • Essay: My War In Bosnia

From Panama and Costa Rica: Video and Reports from Terror Travel Threat Investigation

February 5, 2019 by Todd Bensman

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.

Paso Canoas, the preferred border crossing from Panama to Costa Rica of migrants from the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa

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.

Filed Under: Securing America's Borders, Uncategorized

Subscribe to Mailing List

Subscribing to my list will entitle subscribers to be alerted to blog posts, articles and writings as they are published, as well as any special announcements.

Primary Sidebar

Follow Me Online

  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Related Posts

Hold Off! Designating Mexican Cartels as Terrorists Could Dilute War on Jihadists
Overturned Migrant Boat on the Mexican Coast: Bigger Picture Takeaways on Dead African Migrants
Members of Congress Request Information about Covid Patient Imports from Mexico
As Mexican Hospitals Collapse, American Border Ones Fill
What To Make of a Report that ISIS Planned to Breach U.S.-Mexico Border? An interview with the author
Eight Recommendations to Congress and the White House to Counter Potential Terror Travel to the U.S. Southern Border
A Rare Interview with a Pakistani Migrant in Costa Rica en Route to the U.S. Border
Big Media Miss: CBP Chief Says ‘Extra-Continental’ Migration a 2020 Priority
A Terror Case the Travel Ban Would Have Prevented
Enhanced Security Vetting Required Now for Congolese Immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Subscribe to Todd’s Email List Newsletter

Subscribe

* indicates required



/

( mm / dd )


© 2021 · Todd Bensman · Site By WP Attendant