Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Tuesday that under the Biden administration's lax immigration policies, "every American is at risk" with the "wide open" southern border.
"There's no proof of identity required to get into the United States anymore," Green said during an appearance on Newsmax's "The Record with Greta Van Susteren." "In this open border, you just show up, give them a name, they take that name, and then they let you fly on an airplane. Yet an American has got to prove with Real ID that they are who they say they are to get on an airplane and fly in this country. But, from the border, you can claim whoever you are, and TSA is letting them in because DHS Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas has said that's what they're to do."
"Just the 1.8 million known 'gotaways' and that number is a lot less than what it really is because Border Patrol can no longer be out on the border and see known gotaways, right?" he said. "The number was going up at a much higher rate, but because they've [Border Patrol agents] been concentrated at the point crossing centers, processing the migrants and not out on the border, the known gotaways number is not increasing at the rate that it would be expected to. So, that means all the unknown numbers, the unknown gotaways, is significantly higher, and there's no way to know who either of those two groups are. It could be a Hamas cell. It could be Chinese spies. It could be Russian spies. I mean, there's no way to know. Our border is wide open, and every American is at risk because of the actions of this president and this secretary."
Green, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, explained that individuals "have to be associated or in an organization or associated with an organization that's known as a terrorist organization" to be added to the terror watch list.
"You can make certain statements and be tracked by local governments, for example, other countries, and they can report you on to the terrorist watch list or to the United States, and we add that person to the terrorist watch list," he said. "So, it's known associations basically that get you on the list."
When asked if there's any value to the terror watch list, if people coming across the border are not being asked to prove their identities, Green said the list "certainly informs the FBI task forces."
"Those guys actually track down these individuals, once they get into the United States," he said. "[FBI] Director [Christopher] Wray talked about that too in the threat briefing that they gave, and his task forces are capturing some of these people. Fortunately, they got that Al-Shabaab terrorist and got him out of the country. So, having the list is important because local law enforcement can actually tap into that database through fusion centers. So, yes, it's important to have and maintain that list – we just wish DHS, the secretary, would allow them to use it."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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