Securing U.S. Borders

Like the proverbial "bulge in the belly of the snake," unusually high numbers of non-Latino migrants, obviously not from Central America, are now reportedly passing from Colombia through Panama on their way to the U.S. southern border. Their numbers range to the tens of thousands, whose vanguards we have already seen at the U.S. Southwest Border in recent months: Cameroonians, Ghanaians, … [Read more...] about The Next Influx: Africans

One of the four is said to be a convicted murderer in Iraq serving a life sentence. The others? We'll have to wait for an investigation to run its course and, once it does, the public may well never be told of the outcome for a very wrong and unfortunate reason: If past experience indicates future behavior, this is a story that major American news media with the biggest audience shares are going … [Read more...] about Assessing the Report of Four ISIS Terrorist Suspects Caught in Nicaragua

An ISIS franchise in the Democratic Republic of Congo and rampaging militias engaged in massacres, kidnapping, and torture warrants enhanced vetting of hundreds of Congolese young men crossing the U.S. southern border. Government must pause from the chaos of the Central American influx and ensure that migrants from Central Africa are not as quickly released into the interior. Greater … [Read more...] about Enhanced Security Vetting Required Now for Congolese Immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Whatever becomes of the inevitable investigation or ISIS captive Abu Henricki of Canada, the published report about what he said should serve as a wake-up call to American decision-makers and voters, regardless of partisan sentiment, to look at the current border crisis as about much more than Central Americans with children. By Todd Bensman,  originally published by the Center … [Read more...] about What To Make of a Report that ISIS Planned to Breach U.S.-Mexico Border? An interview with the author

The Mexican troops to be deployed to the Guatemala border are going to need naval support on the Pacific Ocean, endurance support for long-range reconnaissance in the Petén Jungle of northeastern Guatemala. They'll need Guatemala's intelligence on who's moving where, when. They'll need a willingness to use non-lethal force such as tear gas, as the Americas did in January at the Tijuana, Mexico, … [Read more...] about Analysis: Why The Mexican Military’s Mission to the Guatemala-Mexico Border May Not Work Well

Along with hundreds of thousands of Central American economic migrants exploiting a border-crossing loophole for children came unverified stories, rumors really, that some of the children didn't belong to the adults claiming them, that they were being "recycled," or even kidnapped for the crossing. Here's what's really going on. By Todd Bensman originally published by the Center … [Read more...] about How Central American Migrants Pay for Kids to Get Over the Border; An Interview on the Front Line

Federal prosecutors and law enforcement leaders held a press conference in San Antonio to announce a plea deal with a human smuggler who transported Yemenis over the Texas border, reportedly some with terrorism ties. I thought that what these leaders had to say more generally about the terror infiltration threat at the border was more significant than the plea deal, so I opened the spigot and … [Read more...] about Why the Case of Jordanian-Mexican Smuggler Who Transported Yemenis over the Texas Border Matters

Contrary to an oft-heard liberal plaint about President Trump's plans to cut aid to Central America, foreign aid amounts to bribe money, which the U.S. government has always paid to purchase friendship and help when it wants it. The quaint narrative about how U.S. foreign aid puts down El Salvadoran gang-bangers runs smack into this reality about the world and is, in its way, almost adorable in … [Read more...] about Why Cutting Aid to Central America Is Right and Good