Former U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concerns on Monday about the potential rise of Hamas-related terrorist activities on American soil. He links these concerns to the significant number of Middle Eastern men he claims have entered the U.S. via the southern border.
Criticizing current President Joe Biden, Trump highlighted that under Biden’s administration, there has been a record surge in illegal border crossings. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) figures support this, showing 282 individuals on the terror watchlist have been apprehended during Biden’s tenure, in contrast to 11 during Trump’s term.
These remarks were made against the backdrop of Israel planning military operations in Gaza. This follows a severe assault by Hamas on the U.S.’s ally on October 7, resulting in the unfortunate death of more than 1,400 individuals.
“The fight in GAZA is ‘coming home’ to the USA,” Trump stated on Truth Social. “The tens of thousands of strong young men from the Middle East, that have already ‘invaded’ our Country, and are continuing to come, totally unchecked, will become a problem the likes of which we have never seen before.”
Recent data from CBP indicates a marked rise in the number of “special interest” illegal immigrants from the Middle East being detained at the southern border. While they aren’t automatically labeled as terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security has identified them as potential national security threats.
Specific figures spotlight encounters with “special interest aliens” hailing from various nations, such as Afghanistan, Egypt, and Iran, among others, spanning from October 2021 to October 2023. Moreover, CBP sources recently confirmed the detention of two Lebanese men in their early to mid-20s in Eagle Pass, TX, emphasizing their classification as “special interest aliens” and noting their ongoing in-depth background checks.
Trump urged the current administration to curtail the rising tide of illegal entries. He didn’t mince words in his critique, saying, “Crooked Joe Biden is a very ignorant (STUPID!) man, who has NEVER been right on a foreign policy issue in his life. CLOSE OUR BORDER, NOW. STOP THE ONSLAUGHT, STOP THE INVASION!” In a separate post, he further commented on Biden’s perceived foreign policy missteps, stating, “Everything the President has said, for many years, has been wrong…Our once great Country is a GIANT MESS. MAGA!!!”
