Alarming Spike in Terror Risk at Border in California

Democrats and the liberal media continue to insist that the U.S. border is completely secure, but overwhelming data shows otherwise. It is increasingly clear that California has become “ground zero” in a border crisis that is getting worse by the day.

Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California, warns “America will never have a secure border until we end California’s reckless Sanctuary State policies that incentivize illegal immigration.”

DeMaio points to several new data points from the US Border Patrol to illustrate the danger posed by an open border - and California’s unique role in the crisis.

First, in the wake of common-sense crackdowns at the border by Texas, California (specifically the San Diego sector) has now become the #1 area for illegal immigrant crossings. This is the first time since 1999 that the San Diego sector has held this dubious position.

“It is clear that when Texas cracked down on its border, the problem simply shifted to California - because the human traffickers and illegal immigrants know that California politicians will not do anything to secure their border and have actually rolled out the red carpet for them to enter,” says DeMaio.

Second, DeMaio points to alarming data showing a massive spike in military-aged men and dangerous terror-watch list suspects crossing the border in California.

According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol, suspected terrorist border encounters are up a staggering 2,521% since Joe Biden took office. During Trump’s presidency (2017-2020), there were 14 apprehensions, but there have been 367 so far under Biden.

But while those individuals pose the highest security threats — overall there have been over 52,000 border encounters with illegal immigrants from countries with possible security concerns since October 1st. Almost 90% of which have been encountered at the San Diego border. And over 30,000 of these are Chinese nationals — an 8,600% increase from countrywide numbers in 2021, when 342 Chinese nationals illegally crossed the border.

Worse, roughly 85% of those detained for illegally crossing the border are being released into the US.

“The massive rise in illegal crossings and suspected terrorist encounters is scary for not just San Diegans — where San Diego is now the number one illegal crossing sector in the country — but for families across the U.S.,” said DeMaio.

“State and national Democrats are only making the crisis worse as they roll out the red carpet for illegal immigrants and point the finger and blame Republicans — they’re trying to gaslight the American people,” said DeMaio. “It’s a fact that illegal border crossings have gone up under Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom, and their reckless and costly policies are causing it.”

Last week, the White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, finally acknowledged issues at the border, but passed the blame for President Biden’s actions or lack-thereof, saying, “Why should he have to [take action on the border] unilaterally?” 

However, this is not true, and DeMaio points to at least three states — Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas — that have passed new laws to charge illegal immigrants with either a criminal misdemeanor or felony for entering the country illegally. Texas even made national headlines for erecting razor wire as a deterrent. These actions were all in an effort to stop border crossings, but the Biden Administration is now actually suing these states to stop them.

Meanwhile, in California, Governor Gavin Newsom has blamed the San Diego border spikes on Republicans in Congress, saying they were guilty of “Blocking the bipartisan border security deal.” 

But DeMaio says the border deal was full of loopholes, funding for unrelated programs, and even verbiage that would incentivize more illegal immigration — such as saying the border would only be shut down on days when border apprehensions hit a certain level, which was higher than current levels — effectively saying the border would not close and was wide open for crossings.

“Governor Gavin Newsom and his liberal friends in the State Legislature and media are to blame for the surge at the San Diego border — they’ve supported policies that incentivize illegal immigration, such as: Sanctuary State policies, taxpayer-funded lawyers, taxpayer-funded healthcare, taxpayer-funded tuition, and more that are essentially a giant ‘welcome’ sign for illegals,” said DeMaio.

And the crisis and safety risk is so out of hand that even illegal immigrants are now afraid of the U.S. vetting process. 

 “Who come into this country? They don’t know …. How if they’re killers, psychopath, else? No guarantee of that. Like no security… no security check, no background check,” complained a Turkish immigrant recently to Fox News. The man paid $10,000 to a cartel to get into the country.

The situation is even affecting Border Patrol morale, as the force has lost nearly 25% of its employees under Biden’s watch.

DeMaio and Reform California say the only way to fix the border crisis is to embrace President Trump’s policies that worked.

“We have to secure the border, build the wall, end sanctuary state and city policies, repeal and end taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants, fully staff the border and provide Border Patrol with the resources they need, and stop releasing illegal immigrants into our communities,” explained Carl DeMaio. 

“We know what works — it’s not rocket science — but we need to get the right people in charge by electing them in 2024 to enforce these changes,” he continued.

That’s why Reform California will soon be releasing its annual “Plain English” voter guide for the 2024 election. The guide breaks down ballot measures in “Plain English” and vets and scores candidates on criteria — like their dedication to securing the border. The guide will be available on ElectionGuideCalifornia.org by October.